


Redemption

by jingabelle



Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: F/M, Gratuitous use of song lyrics, Slow Burn, i need to fix sho idk, live tour, ren is kuon, sho becomes good yay, showbiz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2018-11-09 20:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 51,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11112642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jingabelle/pseuds/jingabelle
Summary: A girl from Kyoko and Sho's past reappears in their lives, turning Sho's life upside down. Is this the leading lady he's been waiting for?Cross-posted on FF.net





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi yall! 
> 
> This is my first work here, and I hope you guys enjoy it so far!
> 
> Just to be clear about the timeline, the protagonist Minori is about 19 here (since she's just completed her first year at college) which makes Kyoko and Sho 21, and Kuon 25, so this is set about 3 to 4 years ahead of canon. In this time, I expect that Tsuruga Ren will have retired his stage name and now goes by Hizuri Kuon, and Kuon and Kyoko are in a relationship.

“Oh, Moko-san, I’m so excited!” Kyoko gushed, flitting about the Love Me room getting changed.

 

Kotonami looked on in fond exasperation. “And why exactly do you feel this way?” she asked, half curious and half dreading the explosive outpouring of emotion she was sure was coming her way.

 

“Oh, Moko-san! A friend from Kyoto is coming to live in Tokyo! And I’m having lunch with her today! Oh, I haven’t seen her in so long, I wonder how she’s been…” And before she could interject, Kyoko had started mumbling to herself about this friend.

 

“A friend from Kyoto? I didn’t know you had any close friends from home, from what you told me…” Kotonami commented.

 

“Oh, we weren’t that close. I mean, she was one of the only girls who didn’t care that I was good friends with Sho, but she was two years younger than we were, so I didn’t get to spend much time with her, plus I was always hanging around Sho anyway…” Kyoko explained, her face drawing up sourly as she started thinking about the past.

 

Trying to defuse the situation before Kyoko’s mood worsened (and also, she was rather curious about this mysterious girl from Kyoko’s past), she interjected, “So tell me more about this girl. Is she looking to get into showbiz as well?”

 

Kyoko turned to look at her, her old memories forgotten for the time being. “Not that I know of, although come to think of it, she has always liked to sing and dance. No, she’s coming to university in Tokyo! She managed to get a full scholarship to study law at Tokyo University! Minori-chan always was smart,” she said, beaming proudly.

 

“Wow,” Kotonami said, unwillingly impressed. Tokyo University was the best university in Japan.

 

Just then, they heard a knock on the door and Hizuri Kuon entered the room. “Good morning Kotonami-san, Kyoko-chan. Are you ready to leave?” he asked Kyoko.

 

“Oh, you’re going to have lunch with Minori-chan as well?” Kotonami asked, somewhat surprised (and a little peeved that she hadn’t been invited to meet this interesting character).

 

He smiled at her. “I see Kyoko-chan has been talking about Minori-chan to you as well. She’s been excited for the past few days, ever since Minori-chan called her. But no, I’m just dropping her off.” With that, he picked up Kyoko’s bag and ushered her out of the room, both of them saying goodbye to Kotonami in the midst of their argument about whether or not it was appropriate for him to carry her things.

 

* * *

 

 

(one year later)

 

Hamasaki Minori strode through the lobby of Akatoki agency, following the prominently displayed signs that directed her towards the studio where backup dancer auditions were to take place. It had been a hell of a school year, and after her final exams ended she’d slept for two days then promptly come for auditions. It would be fun to spend the summer indulging in one of her favourite hobbies, she thought.

 

When she found the holding room for the audition, she walked in and was shocked at the intensity of the scene she immediately saw. Over fifty svelte young dancers were in various stages of warming up (which wasn’t all that surprising) and aggressively glaring each other down (which was rather surprising).

 

A little intimidated, she walked over to an empty spot, placed her bag against the wall and shed the cardigan she’d worn over her simple black tank top and leggings, before silently starting her stretches.

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before, what’s your name?” a friendly-looking girl with rainbow hair leaned over and asked.

 

“Hi, I’m Minori! I’ve never auditioned before; I’m just looking for something to do over summer break,” she explained.

 

“That’s cool,” the girl responded. “I’m Kumiko. I’m old hat at these auditions. You picked a good one for your first audition! The summer audition is the best because a lot of artists do summer tours, and they sometimes come to the auditions to handpick their backup dancers. I heard that Fuwa Sho may be coming to watch this one!”

 

Inwardly, Minori rolled her eyes, less than impressed by the thought of Fuwa Sho, but not wanting to be rude she giggled along. “Really? Fuwa Sho, that’s so cool!”

 

Kumiko grinned. “Isn’t it, though! He’s so dreamy,” she sighed.

 

Yeah, dreamy, Minori thought a little bitterly. If by dreamy she meant awful and selfish narcissist who has no compunction about tricking a girl who loved him into running away with him to be his maid and earn rent for him, then sure. Kyoko had explained the situation to her one night when they’d been slightly tipsy at her apartment, and although she was slightly unnerved by the atmosphere change and – were those mini demons? She still wasn’t sure – when Kyoko started talking about the past, it was overshadowed by her rage at how terrible Sho was.

 

(She might have continued drinking as Kyoko explained the whole situation, and had to be held down by Kyoko when she swore she was going to Fuwa Sho’s house _right now_ to teach him a lesson. Maybe. She would never admit anything.)

 

Fortunately, she was saved from having to make further small talk by the door abruptly slamming open. “All right, listen up ladies!” a man dressed fully in black bellowed. “You will be auditioning in groups of five. You will be taught a short routine, which you will then perform individually followed by sixteen bars of improv. I have a list of all of you here, and you will come and take the corresponding number tags and pin them onto your shirts.” He threw the list and number tags onto the ground.

 

“First five ladies, I expect you in the next room in five minutes! If you are not there in five minutes, consider yourselves disqualified!” he barked before leaving.

 

Minori rushed over to where the girls were congregating around the number tags and the list. Fortunately, she was in the third group which meant she had some time to calm herself.

 

She went back to her corner and found Kumiko gathering up her things. “Are you in the first group?” she asked, perhaps stupidly.

 

“Yeah! And don’t worry about that guy. He likes to act all dramatic and scary, but he’s not the one who makes the ultimate decisions. Wish me luck!” Kumiko exclaimed, before rushing to the entrance even before Minori could respond.

 

“Break a leg!” Minori called after her, receiving a thumbs up in return.

 

Smiling slightly at the whirlwind that was Kumiko, Minori went back to her warmup.

 

* * *

 

“This is stupid,” Sho grumbled at his manager Shoko as he fidgeted in his seat. “I’m so booored,” he whined.

 

Shoko rolled her eyes. “Come on, you wanted to do this. Remember your last tour when you had to take the leftover dancers and you were irritated with them the whole tour? Do you really want a repeat of that?” She knew she didn’t. The dancers really had been terrible, unable to keep up with the grueling schedule that the entire team needed to stick to if they were to stay on track, which had been a nightmare for logistics. Worse than that though, was how bad Sho’s attitude had been. The more stressed he got about his tour, the more he yelled at everyone and acted like a spoilt little boy.

 

He sulked some more. “We’ve only seen one dancer that looks like she could possibly be able to keep up with the choreography, and she has ridiculously colored hair!”

 

“Yes, and this year you only need two female dancers, so you’re halfway there,” she said patiently. “And you’ve only seen ten girls so far! There’s over fifty girls auditioning, I heard.”

 

He grumbled and groaned some more, making disparaging remarks about the two girls that followed. When number thirteen came out, he scoffed on sight.

 

“What? She looks so plain! Just dressed in all black like that… where did she get her clothes, Uniqlo clearance sales? And her hair! It’s so black and boring! Is she even wearing makeup? I can barely even see her eyes – “

 

Shoko shushed him quickly. “You haven’t even seen what she can do, and you’re eliminating her already?”

 

He sank back into his seat, sulking.

 

Then the music started and a beat later, she started dancing.

 

He shot back up, his eyes narrowed as he stared at her. There was something tantalizingly familiar about this girl, the way she was moving, although he couldn’t really place it. Nevertheless, she was the best dancer he’d ever seen. Her movements were fluid yet sharp, strength and grace embodied in equal measure. Her improv was amazing as well; she managed not to repeat any moves, something that none of the other dancers so far had managed to do in sixteen bars.

 

“I want thirteen,” Sho snapped at Shoko. “I’m going to get food from the cafeteria. Come find me once you’re done here,” he instructed her before leaving.

 

She looked at his retreating back and shrugged, then turned back to look at the girl. After finishing her routine, she simply bowed deeply and left the stage. That was good; some of the other girls had tried to impress the heads of the department and the stars watching the audition by prattling on about their experience and training, but they didn’t seem to realise that backup dancers should be seen and not heard.

 

She sent a quick text to the head of manpower, letting him know about Sho’s choices. She was confident that he would get his choice of dancers; after all, Fuwa Sho had been the agency’s cash cow for a few years now, and they tended to let him have what he wanted.

 

With a sigh, she got out of her seat and went to find her temperamental young charge, ignoring the next girl who was going through her routine.

 

* * *

 

Minori sighed as she exited the auditorium where the audition took place. She wasn’t sure if she had done well or not; the casters had just watched her silently, then thanked her politely when she bowed. She felt good about it, though. If nothing else, it had been a fun afternoon, she thought as she found a restroom to change out of her sweaty clothes.

 

As she left the restroom, clad in a simple t-shirt and jeans (that she had, coincidentally, bought from a Uniqlo clearance sale) she placed her sunglasses back on the top of her head as she walked towards the main entrance of the building.

 

She was supposed to have dinner tonight with Kyoko, Kanae and Chiori, to celebrate her ‘return to society’, as Kyoko put it. It was the first time she was going to see them since her finals had ended, since she had basically placed herself under lockdown in the school library for the entire duration of the study break and finals.

 

It was strange but the Love Me girls seemed to have adopted her as one of their own. Still, she wasn’t complaining – they had been very helpful especially at the beginning of her stay in Tokyo, before her semester had started and she hadn’t made any school friends yet. It had been lonely at first, especially since her mother had stayed behind in Kyoto.

 

Speaking of which, she needed to call her mother when she got home. She hadn’t spoken to her since she called after her last paper ended, which was a few days ago, and had been calling less frequently than usual because of how stressful the finals period had been.

 

As she left the building, still caught up in thoughts about her mother, she didn’t notice the eyes that were following her movements. Sho and Shoko had been about to leave when they saw her walking across the main lobby, and Sho had immediately stopped to frown at her, still trying to place where he’d seen her before.

 

“What’s wrong, Sho?” Shoko asked. She’d only ever seen him so affected by one other girl, and she dreaded the thought that he would be working with another girl who would cause his emotions to run out of control like that. It would be a nightmare to control him on tour.

 

“I don’t know… that girl looked so familiar when she was dancing. I feel like I should know her, but I just can’t place it. I’m sure it’ll come to me eventually, but it bothers me so much…”


	2. Chapter 2

“Kyoko-senpai, you’re early!” Minori exclaimed as she rushed over to where her senior was standing at the traffic junction near the restaurant they were eating at.

 

“Oh, Minori-chan, don’t worry about it! Corn dropped me off on his way, so I was earlier than expected,” Kyoko explained. She found it rather adorable that Minori continued to address her as ‘senpai’ even though they technically weren’t senior and junior anymore, given that Minori was in university now and Kyoko had only finished high school. She’d told Minori that she didn’t need to do so multiple times, but it seemed that old habits die hard.

 

“So how were your finals? We were all so worried about you, stuck in the library at all hours of the night! Did you get enough rest? How was your health?” Kyoko fussed at Minori.

 

“Oh, they went okay, I think. The results won’t be out for another few weeks, but I’m trying to enjoy my summer break until then! By the way, thanks for all the food you sent to the library and my apartment, Kyoko-senpai! You might have kept me from starving,” Minori joked.

 

“It’s no problem at all, Minori-chan! I’m happy to be able to help! You’re just like Corn, always trying to skip meals whenever you’re busy… how is that healthy?!” With that, Kyoko launched into a mini rant about the benefits of a well-balanced diet, especially since “you probably weren’t getting enough sleep too, you need to take care of your health! Taking your exams sick is bad, you’ll end up underperforming because you can’t concentrate!”

 

By the time Kyoko finished her rant, they were at the restaurant where Kanae and Chiori were already seated.

 

“Hello Chiori-san, Kanae-san! Long time no see,” Minori greeted.

 

“Minori-san, it’s good to see you. How were your finals? I hope they went well.” Kanae greeted, a lot more calmly than Kyoko had done.

 

Minori smiled as she sat down. “They went well, I think, although I won’t be sure until the results are out.”

 

Kanae nodded in understanding. The two of them had bonded over a similar drive for success and perfection.

 

“So, Minori-san, have you been up to anything much since your exams ended?” Chiori asked.

 

“Nothing much, mainly catching up on sleep, but I did attend an audition earlier today for backup dancers.”

 

“Oh? With which agency?”

 

“Akatoki agency. I figured that it would be a little weird for me to audition with LME since I have so many friends from there. I wouldn’t want to make things uncomfortable for all of you or be accused of using unfair connections!”

 

“Akatoki? Oh dear, what if they make you dance for Shoutaro?” Kyoko worried, almost growling out the name.

 

“Don’t worry, Kyoko-senpai! I’m sure they won’t do that; he’s apparently very picky about his performance crew! I’m not even sure if I’ll be selected, but I guess it was a fun afternoon. Plus, the money you get for dancing is much better than any other summer job I could get, so I’ll be able to send it to my mother back in Kyoto,” Minori explained.

 

“Besides, I doubt he’ll remember me, even if I do end up assigned to his tour. I don’t think he knew my name even when we were in Kyoto. Remember, he always just called me nerd-san, and that was when he bothered to acknowledge me at all.”

 

“Hmm, that’s true… I never really liked how he treated you, but I suppose if it keeps you safe from his lecherous ways it was a blessing in disguise.”

 

“He called you nerd-san? How rude!” Chiori said, shaking her head in disgust.

 

“It was, but you’ve all seen me in the library, in my natural state.” By that she meant makeup-free, in her glasses and a messy bun (not the cute kind, the OG one-hair-tie style messy bun) dressed in sweats and slippers. It was all a blur, but she thought they might also have come to visit her to bring coffee and food when she was coming out of a 48-hour long study marathon. Contract law was a real bitch.

 

“I looked like that for… actually, all of the time he knew me, since he left Kyoto when I was thirteen. It’s actually been quite long since I’ve seen him, even if he knew my name back then he’d probably have forgotten it by now.”

 

“You should probably take up Fuwa Sho’s tour if they offer it to you,” Kanae said, to the shock and horror of Chiori and Kyoko.

 

“Moko-saaaan! How could you say something like that?! What if he takes advantage of Minori-chan!” Kyoko protested loudly and instantly.

 

Kanae rolled her eyes. “Look, Fuwa Sho is the most famous of the Akatoki stars, right? That means his tour will have the most dates, which means the most money. Besides, Minori-san is tough and smart, she can handle Fuwa Sho.”

 

“Hmm…” Kyoko considered it for a moment.

 

“I guess Moko-san’s right, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to do anything you’re not comfortable with, okay? Shoutaro was always kind of a bully to you, so if you feel uncomfortable around him you don’t have to take the job.”

 

“It’s all right, Kyoko-senpai. I won’t let him get to me! Besides, I could really use the money. The scholarship covers my living expenses in Tokyo, but I always worry about my mother back home. You know how everyone always was to her.”

 

Coming from a single-parent family, Minori had always been discriminated against in her small town, and her mother generally shunned from society because she’d had a child out of wedlock. Money had always been tight because her mother had been unable to find a good job and had to work two, sometimes three low-paying jobs to put food on the table. On top of that, all the older members of the community always whispered about her and glared at her openly every time she was in public.

 

“That’s true… it’s good that you have such a strong relationship with your mother, Minori-chan. You’re such a filial daughter.”

 

Minori smiled back at Kyoko. She knew some details regarding Kyoko’s troubled relationship with her mother, and felt kind of bad about talking about her own mother so frequently. It was just habit, since she was always on her mind these days, but she tried to cut down on it when she was around Kyoko.

 

After that, they ordered and spent the rest of the evening catching up. Chiori and Kanae shared details about their current jobs, and they teased Kyoko about her relationship with Kuon.

 

At the end of the dinner, before they all went their separate ways, Kyoko reminded Minori, “Let me know the outcome of your audition! I’ll see you soon, okay?” before waving and getting into Kuon’s car.

 

“An audition?” Kuon asked curiously. Over the past year, he’d grown fond of Minori, and the way Kyoko fussed over her like she was her mother had rubbed off on him slightly.

 

“Yeah, she decided to take up a summer job as a backup dancer for one of the summer tours! She auditioned at Akatoki agency’s open audition today.”

 

“Akatoki? Why not LME?”

 

“She said she didn’t want it to look like she’d gotten the job because she knows us.”

 

“Ah, that’s very prudent of her. How did it go?”

 

“She won’t know the results for another few days, probably!”

 

“Well that’s rather exciting for her, isn’t it?”

 

“It is, but I’m worried that she will be assigned to Shoutaro’s tour! He’s awful and I know he’ll be awful to her! Did you know he used to call her nerd-san when we were in Kyoto?”

 

“Nerd-san?” Kuon stifled some laughter at the silly nickname. “That’s as… creative as I would expect from him, I suppose.”

 

Kyoko frowned. “Corn! That’s not nice! He started calling her that when we were children! It was very mean to Minori-chan!”

 

“I agree with you, but it doesn’t seem like she’s any the worse for wear for it. She’s a big girl, I’m sure she’ll be fine. And if it gets that bad you can always release your grudges to find him.”

 

Kyoko huffed and leaned back into her seat. “I suppose, but I still don’t like the idea.”

 

“That’s fair, I suppose. Did you ask Minori-chan how her finals went?” Kuon remembered what she’d looked like the last time Kyoko had dragged them to visit her with food and coffee. It had been… rather a sight. He hoped it had paid off, at least.

 

“Her results aren’t out yet, they’ll be released in a few weeks. She thinks they went well, though. They better have, for all the effort she put in,” Kyoko said, glowering at the invisible professors who would be marking Minori’s papers.

 

Kuon smiled at her adorable angry expression. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s a smart girl and she worked really hard.”

 

* * *

 

The next day, Minori was just sitting around her apartment reading a novel when her phone rang. She knew immediately who it was, because who called instead of sending text messages these days?

 

“That was earlier than I expected,” she mumbled to herself as she picked up her phone.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hello, is this Hamasaki Minori?”

 

“Yes, it is.”  
  
“Hello, I’m Aki Shoko from Akatoki agency, Fuwa Sho’s manager. I’d like to personally welcome you to the performance crew for Fuwa Sho’s _Redemption_ tour.”

 

Minori sank back into her couch cushions and blew out a breath. She hadn’t thought she would actually be offered a position on Fuwa Sho’s tour.

 

“Wow, that’s great, thank you!” she stammered out, not really knowing what to say.

 

“Rehearsals start tomorrow morning, at the Akatoki Studios. I’ll email you the address and other relevant details. Welcome to the crew!”

 

“Thank you so much, see you tomorrow morning!” Hanging up, Minori lay her head back onto the back of the couch.

 

“Wow, what are the chances?” she muttered.

 

She picked up her phone again to check the time. She didn’t think Kyoko would be busy at this time of day, so she called her to tell her the news.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Kyoko-senpai! The agency called me!”

 

“Really?” Minori was almost knocked over by the force of the excitement behind the exclamation. “What did they say? Whose tour are you going to be on?”

 

“…”

 

“No way! Are you serious? Did you take it?”

 

“Yeah, I mean… what Kanae-san said makes sense, right? His tour would pay the best and my priority is sending money back home to my mom.”

 

“Okay then, if you’re sure. Don’t let him bully you, though! If he does, just let me know and I’ll kick his ass!”

 

Minori smiled a little to herself. Although it had been a year, she sometimes had trouble reconciling the sweet and gentle Kyoko she had known in middle school with the girl she knew now, and it was a little funny hearing Kyoko speak this way.

 

Well, to be fair, Kyoko still basically treated her the same as she had back then, but the way she talked about other people had changed. She still felt resentful towards Fuwa Sho for taking advantage of her sweet and kind friend to the extent that she had changed so much, but she could be a professional at work.

 

“Don’t worry about me, Kyoko-senpai! I’ll be fine,” she reassured the older girl before ending the call.

 

Well, it certainly was shaping up to be an interesting summer.

 

* * *

 

“ _Coooorn!_ ” Kyoko wailed in despair into the phone. It was fortunate that he was travelling between a shoot and an interview and had some time to talk to her while he was in the car. Yashiro had finally gotten his license a year or two back, so Kuon didn’t have to drive them around anymore.

 

“I don’t know what to do! What if he bullies Minori-chan! Should we track him down and warn him to be nice to her?”

 

“Kyoko, I don’t like this any more than you do, but I don’t think it’ll be helpful to let him know about our connection to Minori-chan if she doesn’t already know. Like she said, he hasn’t seen her in years and he might not even recognize her. Letting him know that we know her just puts a target on her back.”

 

“That’s true, but… I’m so worried about Minori-chan!” she burst out.

 

“Don’t worry, if he really does bully her I’m sure she’ll let us know, and we can settle it with him then.” Although it was probably a little mean, Kuon almost hoped that Fuwa Sho crossed some boundaries with Minori-chan, so that he could beat on the smug-faced bastard a little. Not just for her, but for what he’d done to Kyoko as well. Plus, the little shit was always irritating whenever they crossed paths.

 

Kyoko fussed a little bit more, but Kuon was able to calm her down a little before distracting her by ‘accidentally’ letting it slip that he’d skipped lunch, and that he was fairly sure Minori had been too lazy to cook and probably ate potato chips for breakfast _and_ lunch.

 

In her furious flurry of cooking something up for the two of them, Kyoko forgot about her worries for the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up... first day of rehearsals!
> 
> Please let me know what you thought and what you'd like to see next! :)


	3. Chapter 3

“Mmf… Jesus,” Minori groaned as her alarm went off. Five-thirty in the morning was not a time for humans to be awake. She groped in the dark for her phone, squinting as she turned it around and the glare from the screen hit her full in the face. Jabbing at the screen repeatedly to turn it off, she reluctantly pushed her comforter away.

 

Sitting up on the side of her futon, she blinked to open her eyes fully. “You signed up for this,” she reminded herself sternly as she felt her body sway back towards her futon. “You like to dance, and it’s good money for mom.”

 

Finally, she stood up and stretched, making her way down the ladder that separated her bedroom area (it was really just a loft) from the rest of her apartment. She turned on her coffeemaker as she passed by the kitchenette on the way to her little bathroom to get ready.

 

When she was done in the bathroom, she went back to her kitchenette and groped around sleepily in the plastic bag of groceries that was sitting on her countertop. Kyoko had appeared at her apartment rather abruptly the day before, a homemade bento in hand, and made her eat all of it before taking her out grocery shopping, because in her words, “you’ll never have breakfast if it’s something that requires any effort to prepare, and then you’ll faint during rehearsals!” (It turned out that Kuon had, after all, been right about her eating potato chips for breakfast and lunch.)

 

Finding a bun, she poured herself a mug of coffee and sat down on the cushion she’d placed against the wall, her bread in one hand and her coffee on the ground within easy reach. She looked around her apartment. It was ridiculously small, but over the past year it had become home and she was rather fond of it now.

 

She finished her bun and coffee and sat there for another few minutes, letting the coffee really sink in to wake her up. When she felt more like a human and less like a zombie, she got up to get changed. She’d prepared everything the night before and laid her clothes out, because she knew that if she was rushing around getting everything ready today she was sure to forget something.

 

A few minutes later, dressed in a strappy blue workout top over a simple black sports bra and black capri leggings, she pulled her hair back into a French braid, threw on a cardigan (it was pretty cold out since the sun hadn’t even risen yet) and slipped into her running shoes. Picking up her duffle bag, she looked back to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything important and left her apartment.

 

Six-fifteen. That meant she had plenty of time to get to the agency headquarters and find the studio. She wasn’t sure where exactly it was, since she’d only been there once for the audition. She was glad she’d chosen an apartment that was well-located, even if it meant all she could afford with her rent allowance from the company was a tiny apartment that was only eight square meters large. It was fairly close to the university as well as popular areas in town like Shinjuku, and that was extremely useful when she had morning classes especially, given how incredibly not a morning person she was.

 

Twenty minutes later, she was walking through the fancy main entrance to Akatoki agency’s headquarters. Although she had been here just two days ago, she stopped for a moment to take it all in. It looked different somehow, at this time of the day. The last time she’d been here there had been people milling about, three to four people manning the help desk, and it had been rather rowdy and crowded. Somehow it seemed smaller, when no one was here, just the one sleepy girl sitting at the desk.

 

She fished her phone out of her bag again to double-check the email that Shoko had sent her for the venue of the rehearsal. “Studio four-two…” she muttered as she looked around for the elevators.

 

Finding them, she walked over and waited for the elevator to arrive. As she was waiting, her phone buzzed in her hand and she jumped a little, not expecting anyone to be texting her so early.

 

Unlocking her phone, she wasn’t altogether surprised to find that it was Kyoko, although they had talked last night and she had already wished her luck on her first day. After all, the girl was a notoriously early riser, a product of working at the Fuwa inn.

 

“Good luck on your first day!!” the text read, followed by a long string of emojis. Minori smiled; it had taken Kyoko ages to discover emojis since she refused to upgrade her phone to an iPhone until the telcos announced that they were going to stop using 2G networks and she had no choice, but now that she had, she was addicted. Fully half of their conversations these days took place in emoji form.

 

“Thank you!!” she typed out, with her own corresponding string of emojis, as the elevator doors opened and she stepped through them.

 

At the fourth floor, Minori got out and was relieved when she saw that the elevator was at the end of a long corridor, so there was really only one way to go. She walked down the corridor, checking the labels on every door to make sure that she didn’t miss the studio.

 

When she found it, she hesitated for a moment before entering the door. She wasn’t exactly sure what she would find on the other side, and she was pretty nervous. She checked the time to make sure she wasn’t late – six forty-five, excellent – before she entered.

 

“Ah, Minori-san! I didn’t know you were the other dancer! Come sit with us, I’ll introduce you to the crew!” Kumiko exclaimed once she caught sight of the girl.

 

“Oh, is this everyone?” Minori asked, slightly blindsided by the enthusiasm of the other girl while she was still slightly groggy.

 

“Well, this is all the dancers! Don’t worry, you’re not late,” Kumiko laughed when she saw Minori’s face blanch a little. “We all somehow know each other from gigs that we’ve done together, so we had breakfast before coming! We were just wondering who the new girl was!”

 

Minori sat down next to Kumiko in the circle as she continued talking. “So these are Hiroichi, Akira, Naoki and Seiichi,” she said, introducing them one at a time.

 

Minori nodded at each name as she looked at each dancer, smiling slightly at each of them in turn.

 

Hiroichi had very fair skin and light brown hair, and a wide, childlike grin that charmed her instantly. He was wearing a graphic t-shirt and comfortable cotton black pants.

 

Akira had dark hair with frosted tips that he’d gelled into spikes, and his tan skin contrasted against his white tank top.

 

Naoki looked the most serious out of them all, his naturally black hair contrasting against his fair skin. He was dressed in black sweats and joggers.

 

Seiichi was wearing a plain grey t-shirt and basketball shorts, and his hair was a purple-grey that looked rather familiar, actually.

 

“Do you attend Tokyo University?” Minori asked Seiichi curiously.

 

“Yes! I’m a second-year economics student there. Do you?”

 

“I’m a first-year law student. Your hair color is very distinctive; I’ve seen it around campus and it always catches my eye.”

 

“Oh… thank you,” he said, grinning at her as he ran his hands through his hair.

 

“This is my first gig, how does it work? Is Fuwa Sho here already?” Minori asked them.

 

“Well, we’ll be spending the first few days learning choreography, then we’ll move to the auditorium to put everything together. We start touring in three weeks, so we won’t have much time to get everything perfect!” Kumiko piped up. “I don’t think Fuwa Sho is here already though, all performers are different. Some of them are super involved, but he doesn’t seem like the type.”

 

“He’s not,” Naoki confirmed. “I danced for him last summer and he tends not to come in till like eleven or twelve. I’m not sure what he does in the mornings, could be vocal work alone. I’ve asked the backup singers as well, and they don’t see him in the mornings. It’s likely that he just doesn’t wake up that early, though. When we were on tour no one ever saw him till early afternoon.”

 

Minori rolled her eyes inwardly, although she kept smiling. It seemed just like Fuwa Sho not to take his responsibilities as an artist seriously.

 

Just then, the clock ticked to seven o’clock exactly and the door slammed open. Minori jumped, but none of the others looked surprised, all used to this particular choreographer’s theatrics.

 

“All right, dancers! It’s time for boot camp! My name is Nagayashi Keito, and I am the choreographer for this tour. We are running on an extremely tight schedule this year, because some fuckups back in HR seem to think that three weeks is enough fucking time to get the dancers ready for tour. I expect one-hundred percent commitment from each and every one of you. You will all be here by seven a.m. every day, and we will be at rehearsal until ten p.m., understood?”

 

“Yes, sir!” Hiroichi barked with a slight smirk on his face, and Nagayashi glared at him.

 

“Always the joker, Hiroichi. Try to act your age this time, eh?”

 

Hiroichi just grinned back, and they all started moving their bags to a corner so they could start.

 

* * *

 

“Oh, my God, Nagayashi-sensei is such a slave-driver,” Minori moaned from her position sprawled out on the ground.

 

Kumiko laughed and petted her. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Eat your lunch,” she said, nudging Minori’s bento over to her. “The boxed lunches they provide here are actually not bad,” she told Minori as she opened hers.

 

“Okay,” Minori huffed as she sat up and picked up her bento.

 

“You did really well for being an inexperienced dancer,” Seiichi added.

 

“Yeah, I’ve been dancing for three years full-time now and I still find it hard to keep up with him,” Akira chimed in, though his comment was muffled slightly by the food still in his mouth.

 

“Akira, for God’s sake, stop speaking with your mouth full. And slow down, you’re going to choke yourself,” Naoki said in disgust.

 

Minori smiled as she opened her own bento. “Thanks for the support, guys. And Akira, remember to chew your food before you swallow or you really will choke,” she said, casting him a mischievous grin.

 

Chastened, he put down his spoon for a moment and made sure to eat at a normal pace.

 

“Sorry guys, had to call my wife,” Hiroichi said, hurrying back into the studio.

 

“Wait, your wife?” Minori asked, confused. She’d assumed, from his baby face and his demeanor, that Hiroichi was the youngest of the group.

 

Kumiko snorted out a laugh. “It’s okay, I was the same way when I found out,” she said, patting Minori’s knee consolingly. “Hiroichi-san is actually the oldest of us all; he’s twenty-four.”

 

“Yeah, my wife wants to be a singer. She’s doing backup on this tour, actually. It’s really nice when we get to work together because we spend a lot of time apart touring and stuff. Lucky her, though, the singers don’t start until Fuwa Sho arrives, so she gets to come in at like eleven.”

 

“God, to wake up at a reasonable hour,” Minori sighed, her eyes glazed over slightly with envy at the thought.

 

* * *

 

Sho was not in a good mood.

 

He scowled as he stared straight ahead in the car, avoiding Shoko’s concerned gaze.

 

He’d gotten barely any sleep last night, and just when he’d started to nod off, Shoko had barged in to wake him up. Kyoko and Tsuruga – no, Hizuri now – had been on one of those infernal talk shows again. How dare they be so cute together?!

 

She’s mine, he thought. He closed his eyes and leaned back so Shoko would think he was sleeping, and tried not to cry as he thought of the cutesy interview they’d done. He hadn’t even watched it on purpose; was just flicking through the channels when he saw the two of them together on the TV.

 

They’d been sitting next to each other on the couch, Hizuri’s stupid long arm over the back of the couch behind her, and Kyoko’s hand resting on his knee as she snuggled into his side.

 

“Aww, aren’t you the cutest couple?” the interviewer cooed. Vapid bitch. “So, Kyoko-chan, the fans want to know, what’s Kuon-san really like at home?”

 

Kyoko giggled a little as she looked up at him. “Well, he’s like a giant baby. If I forget to feed him, he’ll just starve!”

 

Kuon pouted slightly. “That’s not true!”

 

Sho remembered a time when Kyoko had fussed over him the way she seemed to fuss over Hizuri. He missed her cooking, the way she knew exactly what he liked and how he liked it. It pissed him off that she was now doing the same for his showbiz rival.

 

Kyoko patted his knee. “If you say so, dear. Other than skipping meals though, he’s really quite neat and tidy at home, except for his penchant for putting all the plates and cups on the top shelf where I can’t easily reach!”

 

Kuon gave her a little squeeze as the interviewer seemed to melt. “Well, there you have it, Japan! The real scoop from Kyoko-chan!”

 

Finally, the car pulled up at the agency and Sho immediately got out, slamming the door harder than necessary. He stalked up the front steps, not waiting for Shoko to follow him. He didn’t need her worried looks and prying questions today; he just wanted to sing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I've been succeeding at giving Sho's character more depth! I know that so far it's been very OC-centric and I'm going to try my best to work in more Sho moments.
> 
> As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions!


	4. Chapter 4

“Oh, God,” Minori groaned as she rolled out of her futon and onto the cold parquet flooring of her apartment. Five-thirty a.m., and while this was the fourth day she was getting up at this time, it never seemed to get easier.

 

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, fumbling for her glasses in the dark. When she found them, she put them on her face as she yawned, then stood up groggily.

 

She went through her usual morning routine (she’d stopped by the convenience store to pick up more bread for breakfast, as per Kyoko’s reminders) and was sleepily tugging her clothes on, waiting for her coffee to kick in, when she realized what day today was and her adrenaline surged.

 

“Oh, shit,” she whispered sharply into her shirt, struggling to pull it on properly. Today was the day that they were moving to the auditorium, which meant it was the first day that she was going to see Fuwa Sho at rehearsal.

 

She wondered if he would be there at seven with everyone else. Worse still, what if he was earlier than she was? She knew that in past years he hadn’t taken his tour rehearsals that seriously, but by all accounts, he had been stepping up more with regards to his career.

 

“Damn it, damn it, damn it,” she cursed as she quickly got everything ready and almost ran out the door.

 

(It was worth noting that at this time, Sho was happily snoring in his bed.)

 

When she got there, she realized that it was almost empty. The only person who was there was Seiichi, who seemed to always be the first one to arrive.

 

“Good morning,” she greeted as she placed her bag on the stage, then climbed up onto it next to him.

 

“Good morning, Minori-san. Why are you here so early?” he asked, checking his watch.

 

She flushed. “I was worried that Fuwa Sho would turn up early, I didn’t want to be later than him.”

 

He cracked a grin. “Fuwa Sho? He doesn’t come in till, like, noon. Relax.”

 

“What are you reading?” she asked, gesturing towards the book in his hands.

 

He held it up for her to see the title.

 

“The Color Purple, hmm? It’s a heavy read.”

 

“It is,” he agreed. “You’ve read it?”

 

“Yeah, I went through an American literature phase last summer before I came to college.”

 

“Oh? What did you think of this novel?”

 

Fifteen minutes later, they were still in discussion when Kumiko and Akira walked in together. “Good morning, guys,” Kumiko chirped. “You’re here early today, Minori-san.”

 

Seiichi snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, she thought Fuwa Sho might be coming in early and didn’t want to be later than him.”  


Akira snickered. “Yeah, no, that’s not going to happen. Hiroichi heard from his wife that Sho’s been coming in later than usual and he’s been in a foul mood when he does turn up for his vocal practice sessions. Not sure what’s been going on with him.”

 

Minori frowned a little. “Oh,” she said, trying to process it. She wondered if the reason why he was so upset had anything to do with Kyoko and Kuon, given that they’d just recently come out into the open about their relationship and had been doing a press tour of sickeningly cute and sweet interviews.

 

Just then, Naoki and Hiroichi came in. “Good morning,” Hiroichi said through a yawn.

 

Akira smirked. “Wife kept you up late last night?”

 

He rolled his eyes and gave Akira a devilish grin. “Don’t you know that a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell?”

 

Naoki cuffed Akira behind the head. “Stop being such a little shit.”

 

Akira turned to Naoki and pouted. “Aww, don’t you love my wit?” And the two of them were off bickering about nothing at all.

 

Minori was laughing at the boys’ antics when Nagayashi walked into the auditorium. Well, he never walked as much as he swaggered.

 

“Okay you little turds! I want you to warm up, now! We will start practice in half an hour!” he screamed at them.

 

“Wow, it just doesn’t get old with him, does it?” Minori commented.

 

Hiroichi laughed. “No, he’ll come up with a new insult to call you every day.”

 

* * *

 

“Yes, finally, lunch! I’m so hungry,” Akira groaned, falling to his knees in front of the stack of bentos.

 

Naoki rolled his eyes. “We’re all hungry, just take your bento and sit down.”

 

Akira scoffed. “Looks like someone’s hangry.”

 

When Naoki just growled (whether from his throat or his tummy no one was sure) Akira quickly grabbed his bento and cutlery and moved out of the way before he lost a finger.

 

When they all had their bentos they sat in a circle and started eating, with the exception of Hiroichi, who’d taken his food and gone to sit with his wife in a corner. They were halfway through their meals when the door banged open.

 

They turned around to look at who was barging in and had a number of different reactions.

 

“Oh my God, it’s Fuwa Sho!” Kumiko whisper-screamed in excitement, grabbing at Minori’s arm.

 

“Aw, man,” Akira moaned, staring at his food in wistfulness and disappointment.

 

“Oh look, he finally turned up,” Seiichi commented through a mouthful of food.

 

Minori stared at him. This was the person who’d called her names during her childhood (not that he’d been the only one) and turned Kyoko’s life upside down. She had to admit that he was objectively good-looking; tall and blonde, fairly muscular with sharp, angular features, dressed in a black sleeveless shirt and black joggers that showed off his arms and contrasted against his fair skin.

 

“Okay, let’s practice,” he said, stalking down the aisle between the seats. He stopped in front of the stage and stared at the dancers, who were sitting on it.

 

“Well?” he asked impatiently.

 

“My dancers are having their lunch,” Nagayashi said firmly. “You can practice one of the six songs that don’t require them.”

 

“What?” he exclaimed angrily, not used to being told no. “I want to start with Endless Deception. It’s the first song in the set.”

 

“Yes, well, my dancers have been here, dancing since seven a.m., and they need their lunch. I don’t care what you start with, they’re not going back to practice until one-thirty.”

 

During this tense confrontation, the group of dancers quietly carried their bento boxes and went to sit somewhere else.

 

“Jesus, he’s as much of a douche as I remember,” Naoki muttered.

 

Minori shrugged. “He’s always kind of been an asshole,” she said without thinking.

 

All the dancers turned around to stare at her.

 

“What do you mean ‘always’? How do you know him?” Kumiko fired off the questions rapidly.

 

Minori flushed and cursed that she’d opened her big mouth. “Oh, it’s nothing, really,” she said awkwardly. “We came from the same hometown. We weren’t in the same year though, because he’s two years older than me. I don’t even think he knows who I am, but he’s always been popular and famous in school so everyone knew who he was.”

 

“You’re from the same hometown as _Fuwa Sho_?” Kumiko exclaimed.

 

“Shut up!” Minori hissed, glancing over to see if he’d heard. Thankfully, he was still arguing with Nagayashi. “Yes, okay? It’s not a big deal, like I said.”

 

“Wow, poor you,” Naoki said sympathetically.

 

She shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad. I was a plain little bun back then, so he mostly ignored me anyway.”

 

“Poor her?!” Kumiko asked incredulously. “Do you know that I would kill to have someone like Fuwa Sho around when I was growing up?”

 

“Why, though?” Seiichi asked. “Look at him, he’s a self-important bastard. Besides, we all know how he treats women; it’s on the gossip pages all the time.”

 

Kumiko sighed. “Who cares about that? It’s not like I want to date or marry him. I just like to look.”

 

Akira cackled. “You love to look, don’t you?” he said, waggling his brows suggestively.

 

Kumiko flicked a pea at him. “Shut up.”

 

He caught it in his mouth and grinned smugly at her. She rolled her eyes.

 

Minori finished her food and placed the cover back on her bento, then stacked it on top of Naoki and Seiichi’s empty ones.

 

Hiroichi came bounding over to them then, with his wife in tow. “Hi guys! Meet my wife, Akari!”

 

“Hi, Akari-san,” the dancers said in unison. She was an adorable woman, with big round eyes and long hair in a messy bun on top of her head, dressed in a flowy yellow sleeveless blouse and blue skinny jeans.

 

She giggled. “Hi, what are your names?” she asked, sitting down next to them and pulling Hiroichi down with her.

 

After the round of introductions was made, Akari turned to Minori and Kumiko and asked in a hushed voice, “Are you two into Fuwa Sho?”

 

“No…” Minori said hesitantly, not sure why Akari was asking.

 

“But Minori-san is from the same hometown as him!” Kumiko squealed.

 

Akari’s eyes widened. “Okay, you don’t want to tell that to the other backup singers,” she warned.

 

Minori’s brow furrowed. “Why not?”

 

“They’re so infatuated with him, it’s embarrassing! They constantly snipe at each other and try to outdo each other with being sweet and nice to him, bringing him boxed lunches and all that. It would be a huge hassle for you, and probably all of us, if they found out you were from the same town as him. They would flip and throw tantrums and God knows what else,” Akari explained, rolling her eyes.

 

Minori wrinkled her nose. “Sounds just like how he was back home.”

 

Seiichi laughed. “I guess some things don’t change.”

 

* * *

 

At one-thirty, the dancers walked back to the stage to take their new instructions.

 

“Finally,” Sho growled, glaring at them. “Endless Deception now, and make it fast.”

 

Minori rolled her eyes as she turned away from him to get into position. Sho did as well, turning away from the stage and putting his hands up over his head.

 

Then he turned around and started to sing, and Minori lost herself in the movements of the dance. As much as he was irritating and conceited, Sho had always been talented, and it was a good song and he was a good singer.

 

Sho actually never really danced during his concerts. Sure, he would sometimes follow the choreography of the dancers, but for the most part he just stormed around the stage trying to look cool, which was why he never had to come for the dance rehearsals.

 

They ran quickly through the songs in the set, Sho singing four songs at a time before taking a short break. By the time they were done, the dancers were sitting together in the wings as Sho crooned out the last of his new ballad.

 

When he finished, the two backup singers Akari had warned Minori about immediately ran up to him from their spot in the back of the stage.

 

“Sho-kun!” cried the one with long, straight black hair, reaching him first. “You were so amazing!”

 

The other one, who had shoulder-length brown hair with pink streaks, reached him a second later and threw her arms around his neck. “Sho-kun is so talented!” she simpered.

 

Minori wrinkled her nose a little. “Gross, do they have no self-respect?” she whispered to Seiichi, who was sitting next to her.

 

He shrugged. “Guess not. Were girls like this around him back in the day?”

 

Minori laughed. “Oh, the stories I could tell you about his shenanigans. One time, he smiled at these two girls on his way into school, and they actually got into a fight over who he has looking at. And I think they were sisters.”

 

“Really? Did he do this kind of thing on purpose?”

 

“Oh, all the time! I overheard him talking about it once. Apparently it strokes his ego to have girls falling all over him.”

 

“Well, that’s certainly consistent with what we know about him,” Seiichi said, looking out through the curtains at Sho now sitting in the front row of the auditorium with one backup singer on either side.

 

Minori laughed as they emerged from the wings, going back down to join everyone else.

 

“Hey, you!” Sho called.

 

Minori turned around to face him. “Are you talking to me?” she asked.

 

“Of course, I’m looking at you. What’s your name?”

 

“Hamasaki Minori, Fuwa-san,” she said politely, although she was rather irritated that he was being so rude and presumptuous towards her.

 

“You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

 

“I don’t think so, Fuwa-san. I’ve only been in Tokyo for a year. Maybe you remember me from the auditions?”

 

He scowled. “Of course that’s not it; I would know if that was the case. Where are you from?”

 

Minori’s eyes met Kumiko’s, who was sitting a few rows back from Sho. Her eyes were wide with panic, and she was making a slashing motion across her throat.

 

“Um, Kyoto,” she said hesitantly. _Shit_ , she thought. The backup singers were already looking at her angrily because of the interest that Sho was taking in her.

 

“Hmm, I’m from Kyoto too,” he said.

 

“Maybe it’s just one of those things,” she said nervously. “Maybe I just have a Kyoto face.”

 

He hummed noncommittally, looking her up and down. “Maybe.”

 

Then Minori almost ran away from Sho, collapsing into the seat next to Kumiko.

 

“Dear God,” she gasped. “That was close.”

 

Kumiko petted her hair consolingly, then grimaced as she wiped the sweat away on her pants. “Don’t worry, maybe he’ll forget about it now. Just try not to interact with him too much.”


	5. Chapter 5

It’s a few days later when shit goes down.

It’s a perfect combination of unlikely factors that results in Kyoko and Sho engaged in a screaming match in the middle of the auditorium.

“Is that Kyoko-chan?” one of the backup singers, the one with the black hair, asked the other one in astonishment.

“Oh, shit,” Hiroichi breathes, sitting at the edge of the stage with his wife, who can’t seem to decide whether to stare at the unfolding debacle or at Minori, whose face seems glued to her palms at this point.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” she groaned into her hands.

* * *

 

The day started as most did; Minori struggled out of bed at the same ungodly hour and went to practice, which was notably Sho-free, as it usually was until about lunchtime.

But somehow, today Sho had decided to get his act together and turn up a little earlier than usual so they could squeeze in some practice before Nagayashi ordered the dancers to have lunch.

Also unusually, today Kyoko had decided to pop by to see how her little junior was doing, since she’d been attending an audition in the building for a new drama.

And so it came to be that at around eleven in the morning, Kyoko slipped into the auditorium without a noise to watch the rehearsal, and when they had a break, Kyoko skipped up to the stage.

“Minori-chan, you looked really good!” she gushed excitedly as she threw out her arms for an excited hug.

“Kyoko-senpai, what are you doing here?” Minori asked in surprise, then eyed Kyoko’s outstretched arms. “I don’t think you should hug me, by the way. I’m so sweaty, you’ll probably slide right off me.”

Kyoko pouted but put her arms down. “I had an audition for the new drama in the building, and I thought I would drop by to say hi!” she explained.

“Oh, the historical romance? What was its title… Lonely Flowers?”

“Yeah! I heard that the usual studio wasn’t free because some emergency renovations had to be made, so they moved it here.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. So how did the audition go?” Minori asked. When Kumiko and Akira cleared their throats behind her, Minori realized belatedly that she had forgotten to introduce them, and quickly made the necessary introductions.

“Wow, you were the actress who was in the Japanese adaptation of Macbeth, weren’t you? You were amazing in that!” Seiichi complimented.

Kyoko flushed. “Thank you,” she said modestly. “It’s nice to hear that some people enjoyed my performance!”

Minori smiled inwardly. That performance as Lady Macbeth had propelled her straight to the A list and had been all anyone could talk about for three months, and she was acting like it was some two-bit play by student actors.

“Hey, Kyoko-chan, what’s dating Hizuri Kuon like? He’s so dreamy,” Kumiko sighed.

Minori glared at Kumiko, but she didn’t react.

“Oh, um… same as dating other guys, I think? Dates are a little harder though, we can’t just hang out in Shinjuku or Harajuku like most couples do.”

It was at that moment that everything went to shit, as Sho slammed open the doors to the auditorium dramatically.

Minori cringed. “Kyoko-senpai, you should go,” she said quietly to her senior.

“Good morning, everyone! Let’s practice!” Sho boomed out, his backup singers/groupies flanking him on either side.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon, okay?” Kyoko whispered as she tried to leave surreptitiously, but to no avail.

“Kyoko! What are you doing here?” Sho asked smugly as he marched up, looking down his nose at her. “Here to beg me to take you back, because Hizuri is not enough of a man for you?”

“Oh, God no,” Minori whispered in horror as she watched the debacle unfold.

Kyoko sneered at him, her resolve to stay out a stupid fight lost in a second. “No, you useless idiot! I just came to see Minori-chan. And Corn is more a man than you’ll ever be! After all, he’s about 10cm taller than you, and he’s always been Japan’s most popular man, hasn’t he?”

Minori winced. That was a low blow. Sho seemed unable to respond for a moment, his face flushed with anger.

Then, it sank in – “Wait, you know Minori-san?”

Kyoko rolled her eyes. “Yes, Shoutaro, and if you weren’t such a narcissistic fool you’d remember her too!”

“Why, just because she has Kyoto face?” he asked, his brows drawing in in confusion.

“What the hell are you talking about, you moron?! She’s from the same town as us! She went to school with us! She came over to the inn with me a few times!”

Sho frowned as he tried to think back to their childhood, and Minori could almost hear the click when he figured out who she was and his expression slackened into one of shock.

“Wait – nerd-san?!” he exclaimed incredulously, looking over at her. Minori groaned and sank her face into her hands, seeing the two backup singers whispering to each other furiously.

Seiichi had to hide a grin. “That’s what he called you? What an idiotic name. No wonder you don’t have a high opinion of him; even his insults aren’t clever.”

Minori flipped him off without looking at him, her face still buried in her other hand.

“Her name is not nerd-san, you cretin! You didn’t even remember her name?!”

Sho puffed out his chest. “Why should I remember her name?”

“Because she was my only friend back in Kyoto?!”

At the almost supersonic screech that Kyoko released, Minori winced. She couldn’t take it anymore and she knew she had to intervene before any blood was shed.

“Hey, I was your friend back in Kyoto!”

“Is that so?! Some piece of shit friend you were!”

“Kyoko-senpai, please,” she said, running up to the pair of them, who were giving each other ferocious death glares. She pulled on Kyoko’s arm to get her to step away from Sho. “Don’t get all worked up over silly things; it’s nothing, really.”

Kyoko sighed deeply and shot Sho one more glare, just for good measure.

“Bye, Shoutaro. Make sure you’re nice to Minori-chan. If I ever hear of you being mean to her, I will end you,” she threatened and brushed past him.

Minori sighed. At least one crisis was over, but Kyoko had inadvertently opened a can of worms for her.

* * *

 

“Wait, you’re nerd-san? You don’t look anything like how I remember you!” Sho asked Minori after Kyoko stormed out.

“Yes, well, the wonders of puberty, eh?” she responded dryly.

“Hmm,” he said as he looked at her face from various angles. “Huh, I can maybe see it a little now…”

She scoffed. “Please, you barely ever looked at me back home. You don’t have to pretend like you recognize me just because Kyoko-senpai told you who I am. My poor little heart will recover from the pain.”

He frowned. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

She shrugged. “To what end? We have a professional relationship that doesn’t require that kind of small talk, and I’m not interested in walking down memory lane with you. If you couldn’t remember it yourself, it clearly wasn’t important enough to you that I had to remind you.”

The black-haired groupie stepped forward. “How could you speak to Sho-chan this way?”

Minori gave her a quizzical look. “What’s wrong with the way I’m talking to him? Not everyone has to fawn over him the way you choose to, you know.”

The brunette huffed and threaded her arms through Sho’s. “Come on, Sho-chan, we don’t have to stay here and take this!”

Sho frowned at her once more and allowed himself to be towed away.

Minori stared after them in bemusement. We? she mouthed to herself. She hadn’t even been speaking to, or looking at, the backup singers. It was slightly disconcerting the way they took anything that happened with Sho so personally. She supposed it was their choice, though.

Shaking her head slightly, she turned and walked back to the stage where the rest of the dancers were waiting.

“Wow, your life must be interesting,” Akira commented.

“God, don’t even start,” she groaned. “I can’t believe it’s not even lunchtime yet. That was so exhausting.”

Kumiko giggled. “Oh, and the groupies! ‘Don’t speak to Sho-chan that way!’” she mimicked in a falsetto tone.

Minori turned to look at the groupies, huddled with Sho in a corner at the other end of the auditorium. “I wonder what they’re saying about me now. ‘Oh, that witch, being so rude to Sho-chan!’”

“’How is it that other girls don’t love him the way we do?’”

“’Oh, but only we get him!’” Minori said, followed by a high-pitched titter.

It turned out, though, that although they were mocking the backup singers, they weren’t far off.

“Sho-chan, don’t worry about her! She’s terrible, that’s all! Stay strong!” the black-haired one, whose name was Aiko, said as she clung on to his arm.

“Yeah, just ignore her! You’re better than her, anyway!” the other girl, Hanae, chimed in, clinging on to his other arm.

“Yeah, okay,” he grunted, slightly annoyed by the way they were basically dangling off him. He wondered idly if Kyoko did the same with Hizuri, then shook off the thought. It didn’t matter now. He probably wouldn’t have found it irritating if it had been Kyoko clinging to him with that adoring look in her eyes that she’d worn so openly in their childhood.

“I’m going to get a drink,” he said abruptly, shaking his limpets free to leave the auditorium so he could find the vending machine.

“Sho-chan, are you okay?” Aiko cried out in distress as she was left behind.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just want to be alone,” he said without turning back to look at her and Hanae.

He went down the corridor to the vending machine and bought himself an iced green tea, then sat down on the couch next to the machine to drink it.

He was resting his head on the back of the couch with his eyes closed when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and opened his eyes to see who it was.

It was Minori, clutching a handful of coins.

“Fuwa-san, hi,” she said hesitantly as she started slotting the coins into the vending machine.

“Hey,” he said, raising his canned drink in greeting.

“Come sit with me,” he said, patting the seat next to him as she bent down to pick up her iced coffee.

“Um, okay…” she said, looking slightly uncomfortable, but she did sit next to him, poised on the edge of the couch.

“So, you’re Kyoko’s friend,” he started awkwardly.

“Um… yeah,” she said, cracking open her can of coffee.

“And you knew who I was from the beginning?”

Another affirmative.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Like I said, I didn’t see a need to. I told you my full name and it didn’t even ring any bells for you, so I figured you didn’t remember me anyway.”

He hummed, accepting the answer.

“Did Kyoko let you work on this tour with me?” he asked next.

She looked askance at him. “I’m a grown adult. She doesn’t need to allow me to do things. But yes, she did give me her blessing.”

“But why? She hates me.”

“Your tour pays the best. Money is money, and I can send it back to my mom back in Kyoto. Besides, she’s really gotten a lot better about her hatred for you recently. It must have been Kuon-san’s influence. Oh, and the fact that she was named Japan’s top female entertainer,” she added, a small, proud smile on her face.

Sho sulked a little at the mention of Kuon’s name. “That long-legged bastard…” he muttered.

Minori rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think you should start letting go of that? It’s been years.”

“Kyoko should have been mine!”

“As I recall, she was wholeheartedly devoted to you. She even ran away from home so she could help you out as you made your debut. If you didn’t appreciate what you had then, how can you think you deserve her now?

“I have to go,” Minori said, standing up and leaving Sho shocked on the couch. When he didn’t respond, she sighed. “Look, I’m sure this isn’t something you’ve never realized for yourself. You treated her abysmally, even in Kyoto, and she’s happier now. She deserves it; don’t ruin it for her okay?”

He glared up at her defensively. “I love her!” he shouted.

“And that’s why you lied to her, made her run away from home, and had her work three jobs to pay the rent for your super-expensive apartment and your living expenses while you took her for granted and thought of her as a maid?” Minori asked skeptically.

“I’m not trying to discount your feelings, but I think you need to sort out for yourself whether you really love her or if you just want her now that you can’t have her.” She patted his shoulder for a moment. “I really have to go now,” she said, and left, her words hanging heavy in the air even after the sound of her footsteps faded down the hall.


	6. Chapter 6

Minori was worried about Sho. He’d gone missing for a long while after she left him, and when he came back to rehearsal he was distracted. He’d left at six that evening after Nagayashi told him huffily to leave since he was absolutely useless and only getting in the way of the other dancers.

The next morning, he’d turned up looking awful, with dark circles under his eyes. He clearly hadn’t slept much, and had probably had too much to drink too. He was sluggish and stumbled halfheartedly through the choreography, and Nagayashi was so furious that he almost cancelled rehearsal and sent everyone home.

“Fifteen minutes break!” he snapped as he stormed off the stage, muttering about useless singers and their unhealthy lifestyles.

Minori felt kind of bad; she knew his current condition was probably her fault. She didn’t feel bad about what she’d told him – she knew he deserved to hear the truth about what he’d done. It was ridiculous that he seemed to have no awareness of how hurtful his thoughtless actions had been. Still, though, maybe she could have been more tactful. At this rate, his spiral was going to derail the whole tour, since they were running on a tight ship.

When Sho slipped out of the auditorium, she quietly got up and followed him, ignoring the other dancers, who looked at her in confusion.

She grabbed her bottle, which was almost full, before leaving the auditorium as well. She had a feeling that he wouldn’t be far away, and she was right – he was sitting on the loveseat near the vending machine, where they had been yesterday, his head resting on the top of the backrest with an arm slung over his eyes.

“Here,” she said, standing in front of him holding the bottle of water out. “It’ll help with your hangover,” she added as he slowly lowered his arm and looked up at her.

He seemed to hesitate, some scathing insult on the tip of his tongue, but ultimately it seemed that he wasn’t feeling up for picking a fight, because he quietly took the bottle and drank deeply.

“Thank you,” he said, passing the now significantly lighter bottle back to her. “You didn’t have to follow me, though.”

She sighed and sat down next to him. “I know you’re this way because of what I said to you yesterday. That was rude and tactless, and I’m sorry.”

He hummed his acknowledgement, but said, “You don’t have to be sorry. You were absolutely right.”

“I know. I’m not sorry about what I said. But it was unprofessional of me to do so. And you reacting this way is threatening to derail the whole tour. It’s not ideal for me, but it’s worse for the others involved whose livelihoods depend on this.”

He sat in silence, absorbing that. She wondered if he had ever realized how many people depended on him to keep his shit together. Probably not – in the short time that she had known him, he seemed to have remained largely the same as he’d been in high school. How was it possible for his emotional growth to have stunted at fifteen, she thought idly.

“Please, come back to rehearsal. I have some painkillers in my bag. We really are running on a tight schedule; we’re going on tour in two weeks.” She stood up and waited for him to as well, before turning and walking back to the auditorium.

She pulled open the heavy doors and walked to her bag in the corner, fishing out the blister pack of painkillers she kept on hand.

“Here you go,” she said, popping two out in his outstretched hand, and handing him her bottle of water when he put them in his mouth. When he swallowed the pills, she took the bottle back and headed to the stage, placing it down next to the other bottles and returning to join the other dancers.

“Yo, what was that?” Seiichi asked curiously.

She shrugged. “I just said some stuff to him. I think he needed to hear it from me, since we kind of share a common past.” She knew she was being vague, but she hoped they would let it go. She didn’t think she could answer their questions without telling them about what he’d done to Kyoko, and it wasn’t really fair on her senpai to tell her story to others without asking.

“Hmm,” he acquiesced, although she could see in his eyes that she had only whetted his curiosity. Thankfully he was astute enough to see that she didn’t want to talk about it, and wouldn’t press her about it in front of everyone. She had a feeling that he would ask her about it again later privately, though.

“All right, everybody, back to your places!” Nagayashi called, clapping his hands, as Sho ambled back to the stage. We’ll start from the top.”

This time, the rehearsal went much more smoothly, especially after the painkillers kicked in, and they were able to leave by eight in the evening.

“Nice, let’s go for dinner and drinks!” Kumiko cheered as they were packing up to leave.

The others agreed enthusiastically, Hiroichi’s wife included. Although she wasn’t a dancer, they’d adopted her into their group since she didn’t get along well with the other singers at all. Besides, she was sweet and funny and she and Hiroichi had somehow become the parents of the group (although Hiroichi was a ridiculous joker at times).

Minori smiled at Kumiko’s exuberance. “I’ll join you guys for dinner, but I don’t think I can have drinks. Since we get off a little earlier today I want to go home and call my mom back in Kyoto.”

Sho, standing nearby, overheard and it unwittingly made him think of his own parents. When was the last time he’d called them? It had been months. He felt a twinge of guilt that he was apparently failing so hard as a son. It hadn’t bothered him so much when he’d lived with Kyoko, since she would talk to the Fuwa couple on his behalf, and after she’d moved out he just hadn’t thought about it all that much.

Then again, they weren’t very happy with his life choices, and every time he did call they took the opportunity to harangue him about it (and ask about Kyoko, then tut disappointingly when he said he didn’t know how she was doing).

Still, maybe he should call. And he’d heard that the inn needed some renovations; maybe he could send a bit of money back to help them out. Come to think of it, they could retire now and live off his income, but he supposed they really did enjoy managing the inn.

“Sho-kun, let’s have dinner!” Aiko suggested as she pranced up to him, threading her arm through his.

“Sho-kun, come eat with us!” Hanae followed suit on his other side.

He looked towards the dancers for a moment. “Maybe we can all eat together,” he suggested awkwardly. Shoko had told him in the car a few days ago that the rift that seemed to be forming between the dancers and the backup singers was going to make things difficult on tour, and since he was technically the boss, he should do something to fix it. He’d protested at first, but she just reminded him that he’d decided to take his work more seriously. “It’s not just about the music, Sho-chan. You have to be sensible so people will work well with you,” she’d told him.

The dancers hesitated, not sure what to do. This was very uncharacteristic of Sho.

“I mean, we’re going on tour together, it seems only reasonable that we get to know each other…” he continued, although he was cursing inside at the lame words coming out of his mouth.

“Sure, that would be nice,” Minori, taking pity on him, agreed on behalf of the dancers. “We were headed to a family restaurant down the street, if you want to come…?”

“Minori-chan, what are you doing?” Akira hissed. We can’t take Fuwa Sho to a family restaurant!”

She stopped short. Come to think of it, he probably only ate at upscale, expensive restaurants since most casual restaurants were full of his fans who would pester him for the entire duration he was there. Damn it, she didn’t have the money to eat at those places, and she was willing to bet that none of them did, bar Sho.

Hiroichi, ever the problem-solver, came up with a solution. “Let’s order pizza! We can crash one of the empty rooms in the studio and have a mini-party.”

The rest of the dancers, always up for a good time, cheered as the whole group left the auditorium to find an empty room.

Aiko and Hanae sulked. They’d wanted to spend some time alone with Sho-kun.

“Sho-kuuun, why do we have to eat with everyone? And pizza in the studio! That’s so fattening, not to mention unbefitting of someone of your stature!”

He shrugged them off. “Stop complaining! Do you want to go on tour with a bunch of strangers?”

Neither of them saw a problem with it; they had each other, after all, and the dancers didn’t seem like people either of them would get along with. Still, they had enough sense to recognize that for some reason, this was something that was important to Sho, so they chorused quietly, “No, Sho-kun.”

When they got to the empty dance studio that the dancers had invaded, they found the place already looking slightly like chaos. The dancers had thrown their bags in a corner, and Minori was plugging her phone into the audio system and scrolling through her Spotify playlist to find something good, while Kumiko and Seiichi sat at the baby grand piano in the corner, tinkering on the keys and laughing uproariously. Akira and Naoki were doing… something inexplicable in another corner.

“Come sit down!” Akira invited. “Hiroichi and Akari went to buy drinks and stuff, and we’re deciding on which pizzas to order.”

Sho eyed them suspiciously. “It doesn’t look like that’s what you’re doing.”

Naoki smirked. “We have a… unique system to decide what to order. Basically whoever pins the other’s foot to the ground gets to pick something. You can use whatever method you choose, but no hands.”

It sounded ridiculous. Sho scoffed at their idiocy, but sat down to watch anyway.

Minori selected a playlist and put her phone down on the ledge next to the speakers. A moment later, a Psy song came on. Kumiko and Seiichi immediately got up and started dancing with Minori, and they laughed at each other as they tried to outdo each other with the most ridiculous, over-the-top choreography.

Aiko and Hanae looked on hesitantly, but soon the temptation to join in and let loose won out, and they joined in the fun. Soon Naoki and Akira finished ordering the pizza and joined in too.

Sho smiled as he stood up, though he didn’t dance along to the music. It seemed that the tour group he’d chosen were a great deal of fun, and that boded well. He hoped there wouldn’t be so much drama on this year’s tour as compared to last year’s, which had been a nightmare.

“Hey, y’all got started without us?!” Hiroichi and Akari exclaimed, their hands full of plastic bags from the grocery store. They’d bought some vodka and whiskey, various mixers, cups and ice, and busied themselves with preparing drinks for everyone.

Minori grinned as she poured herself a whiskey green tea. “You guys are so much fun,” she said to the room at large, only her smiling eyes visible over the rim of the cup as she took a large sip of her drink.

“Aw, you’re not so bad yourself, cutie,” Kumiko complimented her, as they clinked their plastic cups together.


	7. Chapter 7

Minori looked around her apartment one last time, making sure that she hadn’t left anything behind or anything that would become a mess by the time she was back in fifteen weeks.

She ran through the list in her mind. Toilet cover was down; all her electrical appliances that weren’t going with her were unplugged; all perishable foods had been either consumed or thrown out. She double-checked all the taps to make sure that they weren’t leaking and were tightly shut, and her windows were closed.

Finally she was satisfied that nothing was going to spontaneously explode or rot in her home while she was gone, and picked up her suitcase to leave. Locking the door (and checking three times that it was shut properly), she kept her keys in her pocket and sighed as she made her way to the studio. The tour bus that was taking them from Tokyo to Aomori would pick them up at the studio. From Aomori, they were going to fly to Hokkaido, then down to Kagoshima, where the bus would take them back to Tokyo.

She had to fight to keep her expression still on the subway, as opposed to maniacally grinning in excitement at the thought of exploring Japan. She’d never gone much further than Kyoto or Tokyo because she hadn’t had the time or money, and she couldn’t wait to see the rest of Japan. They were going through all the major cities, with a few R&R spots at the more interesting and scenic locations to allow the crew to unwind.

She picked at a loose thread on her backpack as she swayed slightly in rhythm to the song she was listening to. It was still pretty early and she wondered if she would have time to pick up a snack for the road.

* * *

 

“Minori-chan!” Kumiko cried, draping herself over Minori’s back. “Aren’t you excited! I’m so excited!”

Minori grabbed at Kumiko and shifted her weight so she could piggyback the other girl.

“Good morning to you too,” she said, smiling as she craned her neck back to look at the other girl.

Kumiko hugged Minori closer. “You’re really lucky your first tour is with Fuwa Sho! His tour bus is the best and we’re travelling all over Japan! I’ve never been on a tour this big either,” she exclaimed.

Minori bent her knees slightly to allow Kumiko to put her feet back on the ground. “I guess someone is excited,” she said teasingly. “How much coffee have you had?” she asked. Kumiko was almost vibrating.

Kumiko put her finger on her lip as she considered it. “Hmm…” she said thoughtfully. “I had one at home when I woke up, and then I picked up another one at the convenience store down the road…”

Minori gasped and grabbed the paper cup out of Kumiko’s hand. “Is this your second or third?!” she said. Thankfully, it still seemed half full. “For God’s sake Kumiko,” she scolded. “What on earth possessed you to drink so much? We’re spending two hours on the bus today! You could have had a nap there.”

Kumiko bounced on the balls of her feet. “Well, I had the coffee at home because I usually do, and I had this one because I just realized that we won’t be back here for almost four months, Minori! I miss this coffee!”

Minori rolled her eyes. “No more for you, Kumiko!” she declared, taking a sip herself.

Seiichi walked up to the two of them, clearly still half asleep as he rolled his suitcase over Minori’s foot. “Ow!” she exclaimed, yanking it out of the way.

“Seiichi, what time did you sleep last night? It’s like nine in the morning, you don’t even look this bad when we have to be at the studio at seven!”

He yawned. “Sorry, I just got really caught up reading this great book about colonialism in India and how its effects continue to affect Indian politics and culture today.”

Akira came up behind Seiichi and slapped him on the back, placing his forearm against the nape of his neck and leaning. “Sounds boring Seiichi, better stop talking about it or you’ll make even Kumiko fall asleep.”

Hanae and Aiko skipped up together next, holding hands while dragging their matching suitcases behind them. “Good morning guys,” they said together.

Minori turned around to smile at them. They weren’t the best of friends still, but ever since the pizza party a few nights ago they’d come to some sort of an understanding, and they could chat and make small talk whenever necessary.

Shoko walked up briskly. “Good, all of you are here. The others are outside waiting. The buses are here,” she said shortly, before she walked off.

Minori stared after her, wide-eyed. She’d never seen the usually (outwardly) relaxed Shoko looking so flustered and stressed out. The tour must really be taking a toll on her.

“Welp, looks like it’s time to go!” Kumiko exclaimed, grabbing her suitcase. She linked arms with Minori and all but dragged her out to the carpark, where a massive bus with Fuwa Sho’s face on it waited for them.

“Good God, what a tacky design,” she muttered under her breath, cringing.

Seiichi snorted with laughter. “You get used to it,” he assured her. “At least the inside will be nicer than the outside, and we don’t have to look at it.”

She brightened up. “That’s true,” she chirped.

“Look, it’s Sho-kun!” Aiko exclaimed, tugging on Hanae’s hand and waving exuberantly with the other.

Sho grumpily walked up to them. “What are you so happy for so early in the morning?” he grumbled.

Minori was confused for a moment before she remembered that this really was early for him – he usually only showed up around ten at the earliest. He was carrying what looked like an expensive designer backpack, although there was a man behind him wheeling two large suitcases up to them.

The two girls separated and each took one of Sho’s arms. “Sho-kun, don’t be like that!” Aiko said, pouting.

“Yeah, we’re just happy to see you!” Hanae chimed in, resting her chin on his shoulder.

He huffed, but accepted their platitudes. “Whatever, let’s check out this bus,” he said, shrugging them off to step through the narrow entrance. The two girls shrugged and followed him.

The bus was a large double-decker bus, with the bottom reserved for the backup performers and the top for Sho and Shoko. The stairs leading to the top deck were right behind the driver’s seat, and that was where Sho immediately disappeared to.

Behind the stairs was a small seating area with a sink, minifridge and microwave oven, and behind that was the ‘bedroom’ area. There were nine beds, stacked in threes, and each came with a pillow and a neatly folded comforter at the foot of the bed. There was a light and a ceiling light in each, and a power socket. Blinds on each bunk made it possible to get some privacy while sleeping. It looked like a mini capsule hotel.

Behind the beds was another small sitting area, with plush seats and, in the corner, a small room that housed a toilet and a sink.

The two girls ran towards the bedding area and took two bunks, one on top of the other, giggling at each other as they dumped their bags before Aiko joined Hanae in hers.

The others followed suit, Minori claiming one of the top bunks as her own since it seemed that everyone else was too lazy to actually climb into their beds any time they wanted to have a nap.

Shoko stepped into the bus and smiled at the backup performers – those she could see, anyway. Half of them had already gotten into their bunks, with the blinds pulled down. “We have about a three hour drive ahead of us. Once we’re there, we have to do sound checks and rehearse for tomorrow’s concert, so if you want to take a nap, you’d better do it now!” Having settled everything she needed to for the time being, she was a lot more relaxed and after delivering her instructions, she went upstairs to the space she shared with Sho.

Unsurprisingly, he was already fast asleep in his bunk. The top deck was very similar in layout to the bottom, except that since there were only two of them, instead of nine cramped little bunk beds there were two larger capsule-like bunks on either side of the bus, and instead of bench-style seats at the back, there were two plush reclining seats.

Shoko shook her head as she walked past the beds to the reclining seats at the back, pulling his blinds down as she went. The boy truly was insufferable in the mornings, but she supposed it was an improvement that he’d shown up on time today – in the past, he had been known to sleep through his morning appointments and delay everything because of course they couldn’t leave without their star.

She sat down and opened her laptop to clear some administrative work; being Sho’s agent was never easy, especially not now that he’d decided to become more involved in his career and actually seemed to have goals other than just singing at concerts and making girls all over Japan swoon.

One of her tasks was coordinating everyone on the tour since while they were constantly on the move it would be difficult for the HR team back in Tokyo to do all that, and she noticed that Minori had requested a day off in Kyoto. It was their first R&R and the HR team had planned a day tour for the crew, but since Minori was from Kyoto it didn’t really make sense for her to go on the guided tour, plus she’d written that she wanted to visit her mother.

Shoko approved Minori’s absence, and wondered if she could persuade Minori to bring Sho along. While it wasn’t really any of her business what her charge did with his personal time and how he handled his family affairs, she couldn’t help but feel that it was a pity that Sho didn’t get along well with his parents.

* * *

 

“Okay we’re here!” the bus driver yelled as the bus lurched to a stop. The crew filed out of the bus, Hanae and Aiko leaning against each other and blinking sleepily as they had just woken up and crawled out of their bunk.

Shoko descended the bus, holding a still half-asleep Sho by his collar as she all but dragged him down and out of the bus.

“I’m going to get us checked in, and then you have half an hour to freshen up or whatever before we’re going to get lunch and go to the stadium,” Shoko explained. She left Sho with them, still stumbling about dazedly as she walked into the inn.

The bus driver opened the baggage compartment in the bottom of the bus and allowed them to take their luggage, before closing it and driving off… somewhere.

Naoki and Akira snickered quietly as they watched Sho almost fall off the curb and onto the road. “Wow, he really is useless in the mornings,” Naoki whispered.

Akira laughed out loud this time. “Morning?! It’s past one in the afternoon. I’m surprised that even he is still having trouble this late in the day.”

“Fuwa-san, come on…” Minori sighed. “Let’s get you some coffee.”

Still basically asleep, he draped himself over her and let her drag him down to the convenience store.

“Why are you so tired anyway?” she asked as she pressed the button on the coffee machine to get it to dispense into the paper cup.

He mumbled something unintelligible as he took the cup from her when she held it out for him.

She rolled her eyes as she dragged him to the cashier and paid for his coffee.

He sipped at the warm drink as they made their way back to the others, and finally seemed to perk up a little. “I was writing a song,” he explained. “Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Minori sighed as she took her room key from Kumiko. “Well, I’ll see you later anyway.” She grabbed her luggage and joined the rest of the backup dancers inside the lobby. She was rooming with Kumiko, Hanae and Aiko were sharing another room, and Hiroichi and Akari another. The three remaining dancers were sharing a larger room. Sho, of course, had a deluxe suite.

“I hope he doesn’t go back to sleep,” Seiichi said, eyeing Sho. “It’ll be a hassle if he disappears. We have to practice the whole set before the performance tomorrow night.”

Aiko and Hanae seemed unbothered. “Sho’s not that unreliable! It’ll be fine.”

Naoki hummed. “We’ll see.”


	8. Chapter 8

Two hours before their first show of the tour, and it was absolute pandemonium backstage.

There was a small shared dressing room for the backup performers to get into their costumes and makeup, and the nine of them were practically tripping over each other as they each rushed to get themselves and each other ready.

“Kumiko, how did you get your zipper so stuck?” Minori cried in frustration as she tugged on the fabric bunched up in it.

Aiko looked over and put down her eyeliner pen. “Here, I’ll help,” she said, walking over and gently coaxing the zip up.

“Minori-chan, help,” Hanae whined, sitting in front of the mirror holding her hair hopelessly. It was near-impossible for her to get her hair into the high, teased ponytail that was part of her costume.

Minori sighed and walked over to Hanae. “You have so much hair,” she groused as she started gathering it in one hand and brushing it out.

“For God’s sake, stop closing your eyes!” Akari huffed, standing in front of her husband and trying to do his makeup.

“I can’t help it, you’re getting too close to my eyes!” he whined.

“Well, how else am I supposed to smudge black eyeshadow under your eyes?!” she snapped. “You know this is non-negotiable!”

Seiichi, Naoki and Akira exchanged wide-eyed glances. They all knew that their performance makeup included heavy dark eye makeup because apparently it ‘went with the vibes of the music’ or whatever, but none of them were looking forward to it.

The performers in various stages of (un)dress and preparation rushed around trying to help each other get ready in time for the performance.

Meanwhile, Sho was sitting in his own dressing room, with the door shut, in a dressing gown. A hairdresser and makeup artist fussed over him as Shoko was typing away on her laptop, settling some boring administrative work for the tour, no doubt.

“Fuwa-san, please look up for me,” the makeup artist requested, brushing eyeshadow lightly under his eyes, then pulling away to let him blink.

The hairdresser gently combed his hair back and styled it, rubbing a lightly scented gel into it to keep the spikes.

“Shoko, get me some water will you?” Sho requested. He needed to start his pre-show ritual soon. After he got dressed in his costume, he had a glass of warm water with a slice of lemon in it, a mint, another sip of water, then he went to the bathroom, then kicked everyone out of his dressing room and spent about half an hour preening and admiring his reflection. It got him in the mood.

Back in the backup performers’ dressing room, Minori was furiously teasing Hanae’s long ponytail to get it big and fluffy enough, bobby pins in her mouth while Hanae helped Kumiko with her eyeliner.

“Honestly, it’s a little ridiculous how much eyeliner we’re supposed to wear,” Kumiko complained and squirmed slightly. “We spend half our time with our backs facing the audience anyway.”

Hanae rolled her eyes as she grabbed the setting spray. “It doesn’t matter, it’s for the overall ambience,” she said. “Close your eyes,” she instructed before spritzing the spray on Kumiko’s face.

“There, you’re good,” Minori said, smoothing the last of Hanae’s flyaways back as she fluffed up the ponytail one last time and sprayed hairspray liberally all over Hanae’s head and ponytail.

Hanae made a face. “Lovely,” she muttered, choking a little on the strong scent.

Minori stumbled over random clothes and accessories strewn all over the floor on her way to another free vanity and picked up the eyeshadow palette there.

“Minori-chan, are you excited for your first performance?” Naoki asked, grinning at her reflection in the mirror.

“Yeah, I guess,” Minori mumbled distractedly as she applied eyeshadow all over her lids. When she was done with that colour she pointed at Naoki’s reflection with the brush. “You look really good, by the way. Mesh suits you,” she said, smirking at him.

He raised a brow. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” he shot back, grinning.

She rolled her eyes. She personally thought the costume was a little ridiculous – she was wearing a short-sleeved black top, which was mostly mesh, and leather booty shorts. The only part of her top that was opaque were the black tube around her chest. Her midriff was all but bared, revealing her toned abs.

(It had been very important to Sho that his backup dancers be toned and fit, precisely because the costumes were so revealing.)

“Sure, we all look amazing, and not at all like strippers at the Goth Vampires strip club,” she deadpanned, blowing on the glue she’d just applied on her false lashes.

“Aww, don’t be so negative!” Kumiko chirped, walking up to Minori and bumping her hip gently against the other girl’s. “I think we look hot. Besides, the singers’ costumes actually look almost normal.”

Minori considered Aiko’s reflection in the mirror. Apart from the poufy ponytail, they were wearing simple black minidresses with cutouts on both sides, and mesh tights, and heeled boots. It was by no means anything any of them would ever consider walking out on the streets in, but she supposed it was better than what the dancers were wearing.

“Well, Hiroichi-san seems to like it,” Minori said dryly, watching him stick his fingers into the cutouts of his wife’s dress.

Kumiko rolled her eyes, watching their antics. “Well, that doesn’t say much. Akari-san could be wearing a potato sack and he would still have his hands all over her.”

“Well, that’s true, I guess,” Minori conceded, leaning in closer to the mirror to apply the burgundy lipstick. Kumiko smiled at her before walking over to Seiichi, taking the eyeshadow and brush he was holding in his hands away from him before she started to help him with his makeup.

“Should we go and find Sho-kun?” Aiko asked Hanae, since the two of them were done with their makeup and hair.

Hanae giggled. “Yes, let’s!” she said, getting up and linking her arm with Aiko’s as the two of them skipped off to Sho’s dressing room.

Kumiko watched them go, shaking her head. “I’ll never understand their attitude! It’s not like Sho could choose them both.”

Minori hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe there’s something else there.”

Kumiko turned around to ask her what she meant, but was interrupted by a stage manager telling them that there was only half an hour left till showtime, and they had better get to the wings soon.

* * *

 

“God, that was so freaking amazing, wow!” Minori gushed, jumping around the dancers. She placed her hands on Seiichi’s shoulders and braced herself against him as she used him to jump higher.

Seiichi laughed. “It seems like someone is experiencing their first performance high.”

“Oh my God! There were so many people!” Minori cried, doing a backflip just because she could.

Sho, standing nearby, scoffed. “Of course there were, my concerts always sell out.” His nonchalant and dismissive words were belied by the huge grin he couldn’t quite conceal, evidence of his own performance-induced high.

Hanae and Aiko each slid an arm through his, their seemingly favourite position. “Of course, Sho-kun,” they said adoringly.

Hiroichi laughed, carrying Akari on his back.

“Your room, two hours?” he asked the other guys.

Akira grinned and gave him finger guns. “See you then, and remember to bring the goods!” he said.

Hiroichi nodded, shifted Akari a little higher up, and took off. It was a good thing the inn they were staying at was just down the road from the stadium, because it didn’t’ seem like he was going to let Akari go anytime soon.

“They’re going to bang, aren’t they?” Minori asked rhetorically.

Naoki snickered. “Do you even have to ask?”

Kumiko laughed. “Don’t be like that, guys! I think it’s sweet that they’re so in love.”

Akira shrugged. “No one is disputing that, but it’s a good thing they have their own room.”

Sho smirked. “Why do you think I insisted?”

Minori looked at him in surprise. “Really?” That was actually pretty cool of him, if he was telling the truth.

He shrugged. “Who am I to stand in the way of a man getting some action? Especially with his wife.”

Kumiko grabbed Minori’s hand. “Come on! We have to get back and shower too.” With that, she dragged Minori back to their shared dressing room, the rest of the backup performers following.

“Feel free to join us later. We’re going to have a little party,” Naoki told Sho. It seemed that the revelation that Sho had arranged for their resident lovebirds to have their own room started to make the others warm up to him a little more.

He nodded in acknowledgement, before heading back to his own dressing room.

* * *

 

As was perhaps inevitable, the “little party” turned into a huge karaoke fest once they’d had a few drinks in them. By the time Sho made his way to the boys’ room (which was designated the venue for all meetings because it was the biggest) there was loud music playing, which meant it was pretty fortunate that they were staying in a small inn and had booked basically all the rooms.

The first thing he saw was Minori and Kumiko standing on one of the beds, each with a drink in one hand and the other arm slung around each other. Minori sipped the from the plastic cup she held in her hand, then went back to belting out the lyrics of the song that was currently playing.

Hanae and Aiko were sitting on the small couch right next to each other, giggling as they watched the two girls’ antics.

Seiichi was laughing uproariously at something Naoki and Akira were doing.

Hiroichi and Akari were conspicuously absent, probably off doing God-knows-what. Sho frowned. That was wrong. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing and where.

“Sho-kun!” Minori called as she stepped off the bed, almost falling down in the process. He rushed forwards to catch her and prop her back on her feet.

“How much have you had to drink?” he asked her suspiciously, peering into the cup she was holding. He couldn’t remember her ever calling him that, even back in Kyoto when they were children.

She giggled. “I don’t know, a bunch? You’re late!” she accused, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

Kumiko laughed, sitting down on the bed. “Don’t say that! He’s not as late as Hiroichi-san and Akari-san!” she said, sharing a conspiratorial giggle with Minori.

Seiichi rolled his eyes. “Knowing them, they’re not going to turn up.”

Naoki shrugged. “So? They’re off getting luckier than any of us, let them be!”

For some reason everyone in the room, including Hanae and Aiko, found that utterly hilarious and laughed as they held up their drinks in a toast to the absent pair.

Sho raised a brow – clearly he needed to get caught up. He set Minori down on the bed next to Kumiko and went over to the desk, fixing himself a whiskey green tea.

Just then, a new song started playing and Minori giggled as she launched herself up from the bed, grabbing Kumiko’s hand to pull her along. “Oh, I love this song!” she cried, starting to sing along while throwing an arm around Kumiko’s shoulders.

_Right right, turn off the lights,_  
_We gonna lose our minds tonight,_  
_What's the dealio?_

Sho’s eyes widened. Minori had one of the best voices he’d ever heard, and that was something given the industry he worked in (not to mention his incredible ego that made it difficult for him to admit when someone else was equally as talented, if not more so, than he was.)

_I love when it's all too much,_  
_Five a.m. turn the radio up_  
_Where's the rock and roll?_

She let go of Kumiko and did a twirl as she strutted around the room.

_Party crasher,_  
_Panty snatcher_

She grabbed Seiichi’s arm as she spun herself under it, bobbing her head in time with the grunts Pink made.

_Call me up if you a gangsta_

Pulling him towards the centre of the room, she almost screamed the lyrics in his face.

_Don't be fancy, just get dancy_  
_Why so serious?_

She danced up to Sho, who was watching her in amusement, and pouted at him as she sang the question.

_So raise your glass if you are wrong,_  
_In all the right ways,_

Hanae and Aiko decided to join in and stood up, singing loudly. Minori turned to them and grinned, pointing at them. “Take it away!” she mouthed.

_All my underdogs,_  
_We will never be never be, anything but loud_  
_And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_

Sho shook his head and laughed at them, sipping his drink.

_Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass,_  
_Just come on and come on and raise your glass_

Minori spun away from him and over to Naoki and Akira, pushing the arms holding their drinks up, as Hanae and Aiko raised their cups in time with the music.

_Slam slam, oh hot damn_  
_What part of party don't you understand,_  
_Wish you'd just freak out (freak out already)_

Minori let Hanae and Aiko sing the melody while she did the countermelody, muttering the last part while grinning at Kumiko, who was dancing along.

_Can't stop, comin' in hot,_  
_I should be locked up right on the spot_  
_It's so on right now (so fuckin' on right now)_

Hanae and Aiko spun each other around the room while Minori went back to Sho, looking incredibly serious while she told him it’s “so fucking on right now”.

_Party crasher,_  
_Panty snatcher,_  
_Call me up if you a gangsta_

He couldn’t stifle a laugh as she made a phone with her hand and held it to her ear, still moving her head around with the music. Drunk Minori was incredibly cute.

_Don't be fancy, just get dancy_  
_Why so serious?_

Minori leapt back onto the bed just in time for the chorus, which she started screaming at the top of her lungs.

_So raise your glass if you are wrong,_  
_In all the right ways,_  
_All my underdogs,_  
_We will never be never be, anything but loud_  
_And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_  
_Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass,_  
_Just come on and come on and raise your glass_  
_Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass,_  
_Just come on and come on and raise your glass_

She jumped back off the bed to stand in front of Seiichi, smirking at him.

_So if you're too school for cool,_  
_And you're treated like a fool,_  
_(Treated like a fool)_

He laughed back at her. This part of the song was clearly an inside joke for the two resident nerds, being that both were undergraduates at Tokyo University.

_You can choose to let it go_  
_We can always, we can always,_  
_Party on our own_

Seiichi slung his arm around her companionably as they swayed together to the music. Sho laughed as he finally started singing along too.

_So raise your - ah, fuck_  
_So raise your glass if you are wrong,_  
_In all the right ways,_  
_All my underdogs,_  
_We will never be never be, anything but loud_

The girls turned around in surprise as they heard his voice, but immediately adjusted, the four of them starting to harmonize, and wow, for someone with no professional experience singing, Minori was really rather talented.

_And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_  
_So raise your glass if you are wrong,_  
_In all the right ways,_  
_All my underdogs,_  
_We will never be never be, anything but loud_  
_And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks_  
_Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass,_  
_Just come on and come on and raise your glass_  
_Won't you come on and come on and raise your glass (for me)_  
_Just come on and come on and raise your glass (for me)_

“Impressive vocal range,” he told Minori when the song ended and she realised her cup was empty. She grinned at him as she went about fixing herself a yuzu vodka with impressive dexterity, given her current state of inebriation. She’d belted all the high notes with confidence, easily matching the artist.

She smiled back at him breathlessly. “Thanks, I love to sing,” she said, before taking a sip from her now-full cup and going back to join her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song used: Raise Your Glass by Pink


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning found the crew in a sorry state. Sho was slumped in a chair, his head tipped back and resting against the back of the wooden chair in a way that was sure to hurt. Hanae and Aiko had reclaimed the couch at some point, and were leaning against each other, Hanae’s head on Aiko’s shoulder and Aiko’s head resting on top of Hanae’s. Minori and Seiichi were, strangely, sitting under the desk, Minori’s head in Seiichi’s lap and his arm curved around her back with his head leaning against the wall.

Kumiko and the other boys had fared slightly better. Kumiko was sprawled across one of the beds, lying on her belly with the side of her face smushed into a pillow. Akira and Naoki occupied the other, toe to nose.

Sho was the first to wake up when the morning sun streaming in through the windows hit him square in the face. He groaned as he blinked, wincing when the light hit his eyes.

“Oh my God,” he moaned, sitting upright and massaging his neck, which ached horrendously from the night he’d spent sleeping in that awkward position. He got up and exited the room, making enough noise to cause everyone else in the room to stir. Not that he noticed, his only thought going back to his room where there was a nice soft bed and blackout curtains to keep the offending sunlight out.

“Wha –” Minori moaned as she blinked sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She was confused for a moment when she realized she was sitting under a table, then remembered that she and Seiichi had crawled there together while utterly wasted to discuss their thoughts on the prime minister’s goal of amending their constitution to allow for a greater role for Japanese military forces. She shook Seiichi awake as she crawled out from under the desk.

He groaned pitifully and slumped down onto the floor, hitting his head on one of the legs of the desk.

“Come on,” she said, ducking her head back under the desk. “You’ve gotta get to bed, we have to leave the hotel this afternoon. At least try to get some proper rest.”

When he made no move to get up, she tugged on his arm until he finally, unhappily, got up and walked the short distance to the remaining empty bed and all but fell down on it.

Minori considered waking Kumiko up and taking her back to their room, but decided against it, seeing as how she seemed to be in a comfortable position. She boiled some water in the kettle the inn had provided and left it there so that the drunk inhabitants of the room could drink it when they woke up, then went back to her own room to shower, brush her teeth and go back to sleep.

* * *

 When three o’clock rolled around, the latest checkout time Shoko could negotiate for with the innkeepers, the group was gathered in the lobby, waiting for their bus. It was a sorry sight – they all looked tired and disheveled still, the exceptions being Akari and Hiroichi, who had not been drinking with them the previous night and had been the ones to wake everyone up and get them ready to leave.

Most of the group was wearing sunglasses, to keep the light out and hide their puffy, red eyes. There was a six-hour drive to their next destination, and they planned to spend that time in their bunks.

When the bus rolled up, they filed into it blearily and immediately headed for their bunks. Hanae and Aiko, inseparable as always, shared a bunk. Having gotten sufficient sleep, Hiroichi and Akari sat down on the couches instead.

“Have a nice nap, guys,” they called, picking up the TV remote to see how they could occupy themselves with for a few hours.

* * *

“Sho, before you go to sleep, I need you to tell me how much damage control I need to do,” Shoko said, catching his arm as he was in the middle of climbing into his bed. 

“What? What are you talking about?”

She sighed impatiently. “Every time you get hungover like this it’s because you got wasted at some club and some paparazzi has pictures of you that could derail your entire career. Just tell me what you did and who I need to call to make it go away.”

He scowled at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was at the hotel all night with the others.”

Shocked, she let go of his arm and he got into the bunk, pulling the blinds down sharply.

She knew the backup performers had had a party last night; it was usual for them to drink together, and it happened on most tours. She knew of a number of stars who would party with their backup performance and crew since they were bound to become friends after touring together, but Sho had never bothered to get to know his backup performers (other than the groupies who followed him around) and when he got drunk on tour, it was usually at one exclusive nightclub or another.

She remembered the first time he’d gotten drunk – she hadn’t been aware of how troublesome a drunk he could be, and had just fussed over him when she should have been paying off paparazzi (and/or making threats) to stifle the stories that came with pictures – pictures! – of him stumbling out of a nightclub with a scantily dressed girl on either side of him.

Another time he’d punched a tabloid reporter, and while she could certainly sympathize with the sentiments, it had been difficult to stifle that story when the other reporters had vivid pictures of the incident. Plus, the reporter he’d punched had threatened to press charges, and _that_ would have been a nightmare.

Well, if he was going to keep his shenanigans confined to the members of the tour, then that was a huge load off her shoulders. She decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and accepted this new and improved Sho. She was curious though, about what could have caused him to change so significantly. She had her own hunch, and she was sure it was the new addition to showbiz that was currently sleeping off her hangover in a bunk downstairs.

* * *

Four hours later, finally feeling more like herself, Minori crawled out of her bunk and went to the seating area at the back. 

“Ah, the pupae are finally emerging!” Hiroichi cracked. Akari swatted him lightly, but laughed.

“Haha, very funny,” Minori said drolly in a tone that indicated she did not find it funny at all, getting herself a cup of water to wash the taste of death out of her mouth. She would really rather have brushed her teeth, but it was a bit hard to do in the tiny bathroom.

“Oh, don’t pay him any mind, Minori. Come sit with us,” Akari invited, patting the seat next to her.

Minori smiled at her. “Thanks, but I’m going to head to the front. Since everyone seems to still be asleep I’m going to video call my mom,” she explained as she picked up her laptop and headphones, tiptoeing through the bunk area to the seating area in front, where she was alone.

Slipping her headphones on, she turned on her laptop and waited for her mother to pick up excitedly.

“Mi-chan!” her mother exclaimed exuberantly as her face filled Minori’s laptop screen. 

“Mom, hi! How’s everything?” she asked.

Her mother waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, it’s going fine. Same as always. What’s going on with you?”

Minori could see though, from the strained look and the new lines around her mother’s eyes, that things were not going great. Her mother had a worrying tendency to hide her problems because she didn’t want Minori to worry, but after a year of living apart, she’d grown more sensitive to her mother’s quirks and knew her most subtle tells.

“Things are going really great, mom. I’ve having a lot of fun on the tour, and I managed to secure leave while we’re in Kyoto to come see you!”

“Mi-chan, that’s great! I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Yeah, mom, I’m really excited too,” Minori replied. “Listen, most of my necessities are being taken care of on the tour – they provide a lot of my meals and I haven’t had to spend much. I should be able to send you some extra money from my scholarship stipend this month, and some of my pay from the tour too.”

“No, Mi-chan, don’t worry so much about your mother! I’ll be fine; you should use the extra money to have some fun! A young girl like you living in Tokyo should be off having great new experiences instead of saving every spare penny!”

“Mom, please let me help you! You know I worry about you in Kyoto all by yourself.” Her mother was the sweetest woman, but could be a little naïve and spacey, and with how everyone in their town treated her, it had often fallen to Minori to defend her mother and take care of her.

“Mi-chan, you really don’t have to worry about me,” her mother protested, but Minori could tell that the older was relieved to be getting some extra help. Most of the town shunned her mother for having a daughter out of wedlock, which made MInori furious, since from what she knew about her father he was a Grade A asshole who’d said all the right things to her mother, and then upped and left the moment she told him she was pregnant. When she’d been a child, they’d had to move abruptly several times because the landlord had unreasonably upped the rental, stall owners at the markets often charged her mother ridiculously high prices for basic necessities, and there was always whispering and snide comments whenever she brought Minori out.

It was the reason Minori was so determined to make it big as a lawyer in Tokyo; she intended to move her mother out of that town in Kyoto and into a beautiful apartment in Tokyo as soon as possible, and take care of her mother the way the older woman deserved for all the years of hardship she’d endured raising Minori despite the circumstances.

“Mom, please. I was just letting you know more money is coming your way. You don’t really have a choice in this. Consider it an early Mother’s Day gift,” Minori said firmly.

Her mother sighed, but she could tell she was grateful. “All right then, Mi-chan. You’re too good to me,” she said.

“Oh, Mom, I don’t think that’s possible,” Minori said, smiling at her laptop screen.

After chatting for a bit, they bid their goodbyes to each other and Minori busied herself with some administrative tasks. A few clubs she’d joined had asked her to step up to a leadership role in the coming school year, and she had to bid for her classes the following semester.

Unbeknownst to her, Shoko had been sitting in her comfortable spot right behind the stairs, inadvertently eavesdropping on her conversation with her mother. She was incredibly impressed by the strong bond the girl seemed to share with her mother, and how filial she seemed to be.

Sho could stand to learn a thing or two from Minori, she thought sardonically. She’d been toying with the idea of sending Sho with Minori to their hometown in Kyoto for a while, figuring that Sho should probably go to see his parents at least once in a while, but now she figured the time spent with Minori would only benefit him. The girl seemed like a good influence. She had her head screwed on right on her shoulders.

Besides, she saw the way Sho looked at Minori sometimes, even though she was sure he was unaware of it, and was interested to find out if Minori was what Sho needed to get over Kyoko-chan. The girl had turned out to be adorable, but she was very much in love with Tsuruga – no, Hizuri Kuon – and was firmly out of Sho’s reach.


	10. Chapter 10

(Two weeks later)

Minori woke up at six in the morning, incredibly excited. It was the day off she'd been eagerly anticipating, and she couldn't wait to go see her mother.

She pushed back the covers and tiptoed in the dark to the bathroom, so she wouldn't accidentally wake Kumiko up. The previous night after the performance she'd prepared her outfit and left it in the bathroom, so she wouldn't need to turn on the bedroom lights and disturb her roommate.

Pulling her hair back into a bun, she performed her morning ablutions, brushing her teeth and washing her face before putting in her contacts. She blinked a few times and shook her head a little before continuing with the rest of her skincare and makeup routine. Since it was just a casual day back at home with her mother, she didn't go too heavy on the makeup, applying a light layer of eyeshadow, the tiniest baby winged liner, concealer, mascara, brows and a berry-coloured lip tint.

She pulled on the cute corset t-shirt she'd picked out and her blue skinny jeans, slipping her socks and Keds on in the genkan. She picked up her mini-backpack, pre-packed from the night before, and tiptoed over to Kumiko's bed.

"Hey," she whispered, shaking the other girl slightly. "I'm leaving now, see you tonight!"

"Wha – " Kumiko asked blearily, opening her eyes just a tiny sliver. "Oh, okay, have fun," she mumbled, turning over and snuggling back into her bed.

Minori smiled fondly and left the room. She walked down the hall to Shoko's room and knocked, confident that the older woman would be up already. She never seemed to sleep, always busy managing some detail or other of the tour. She really was better than Sho deserved, although she figured Akatoki probably didn't agree with her assessment, since he was likely their biggest cash cow.

Shoko came to the door, bare-faced and in a dressing gown, although she was still as gorgeous as ever. "Ah, good morning, Minori-chan."

Minori beamed back at her. This was, after all, the woman who'd gotten her the day off to see her mother. "Good morning, Aki-san! I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving to have my day off now!"

Shoko smiled back at her. "Well, have fun! You know, it's rather a coincidence but Sho is going to visit his parents today too! I understand that the two of you are from the same home town; if you wait about twenty minutes he'll be ready to go with you. I've rented him a car so you can tag along."

From inside the room, Sho squawked indignantly. "What?! Since when am I going back to that godforsaken town?! If they want to see me, they can come to me."

Minori looked on, wide-eyed, as the two of them started bickering.

"Yes, well, they can't very well close their inn on a moment's notice, as I'm sure you're aware of. Besides – " her smile turned sly. "You wouldn't want to turn down a request from your manager to visit your parents, would you? Your manager who orders all the food on your tour just the way you like it, no matter how ridiculous or troublesome your requests?"

The implicit threat hung in the air for a moment, then Sho capitulated. "Fine," he grumbled, and she saw him getting out of bed and disappearing into the bathroom to get ready. She caught a glimpse of his shirtless body and sweatpants before the door slammed behind him.

"Um…" Minori hesitated awkwardly. "I'll just go wait in the lobby, then…"

Shoko tutted. "Nonsense, feel free to come wait inside! Sho won't be long," she said, stepping to the side so that Minori could enter the room. "I've just boiled some water and I'm making green tea; would you like some?"

Minori stepped in and toed off her sneakers in the genkan. "Oh, yes please! Thank you so much," she said, arranging her shoes neatly before stepping into the room proper.

"So, Minori-chan, are you close to your mother?" Shoko asked, angling to find out more about the girl.

Minori, not thinking much about the question other than that Shoko was making polite conversation, answered enthusiastically. "Yes, I would say I'm pretty close to her… you know from my personal details that I don't have a father, so it was just my mother and I against the world when I was growing up, especially since I was from a pretty small town that was rather conservative."

Shoko nodded; she'd figured as much when she saw the personal particulars attached to Minori's profile with the agency. Her suspicions had been confirmed when she heard Minori's conversation with her mother, although she'd only heard half of it.

"I saw from your profile too that you're a law student at Tokyo University… that's impressive. What made you decide to take up this summer job instead of doing something more similar to your major?" she asked as she placed a teacup in front of the girl.

Minori flushed, unaccustomed to so much questioning. "Well, the biggest consideration was probably the fact that this pays better than any internships available for first-year law students; we're not typically that useful before we graduate," she said, tacking the last part on dryly. "This job actually works out pretty perfectly, because it pays well and a lot of my meals are taken care of, which means that I get to save some money, and of course I love performing and I'm really excited to travel around Japan as well!" she gushed enthusiastically. Now that she'd gotten started, she was very willing to share.

"In fact, I used to play the piano as my part-time job at Fuwa-san's parents' inn," she said, chuckling at the coincidence.

Hearing that, Sho immediately burst out of the bathroom to stare incredulously. "What?! There isn't a piano at the inn," he exclaimed in shock, oblivious to the fact that he was still shirtless.

Seeing him like this was a little jarring – hey, no matter how awful she thought he was, he was objectively very attractive – and she picked up her cup to take a sip as she gathered her thoughts enough to answer. Shoko looked on in amusement, fully aware of what was happening between the two.

Minori set her teacup down. "They added one about five years ago. It sits in the middle of the lobby."

He gaped at her. "What?! But it's so… Western and modern…" he sputtered, unable to believe that there was a piano in the traditional inn.

She shrugged. "The piano actually became popular in Japan around the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, so it's not all that large a stretch. Besides, live music is more traditional and old-fashioned than a stereo system. And it actually looks pretty good in the lobby too. It's like a polished wood baby grand, so it goes really well with the wood décor."

He flushed in anger at the reminder that he hadn't been back home in about six years, and was about to retort sharply when Shoko cut in, knowing from his expression that he was about to say something rude.

"Sho-chan, aren't you going to finish getting ready?" she reminded him.

Distracted, he looked down at himself. "Right, okay," he said, returning to the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Shoko shook her head fondly. "That boy will be the death of me," she confided in Minori.

Minori laughed politely. "Well, you handle him very well," she complimented.

Just then, the bathroom door slammed open again and Shoko rolled her eyes at Sho's overly dramatic antics. Sho was wearing a white T-shirt under a leather jacket and faded ripped jeans. He stuffed his feet into his designer sneakers and turned around, looking bored. "Well?" he demanded, looking at Minori.

"Right, right," she said, downing the last of her tea and hurrying to the front. As she was putting her shoes back on, Shoko tossed the car keys at Sho, who caught them out of the air easily.

"Let's go," he said curtly as he opened the door for her.

"Thank you," she said, slightly surprised, as she exited the room ahead of him.

He followed behind her, and let the door shut behind them.

They walked in silence down to the carpark, and he huffed in irritation when he saw the white Lexus LS 350 in the parking spot Shoko had told him the car was parked in.

"I wanted to drive a European car," he complained as he unlocked the Lexus and got into the driver's seat.

Minori rolled her eyes as she got into the passenger seat. "Yes, because there's a huge market for rental European cars in Kyoto," she said drolly as she got comfortable in the seat and clicked her seatbelt into place. "It's a beautiful car, don't be such a snob."

Suitably chastised, Sho started the engine. He had to admit, it was a nice car. The engine purred powerfully as he started it, and the seats were extremely comfortable and luxurious, with a massage function that he immediately started fiddling with. Minori was doing something with the stereo system and managed to connect her phone to the car's speakers, and the sound system in the car was actually incredible.

"Oh, I like this song," he said, almost surprised. He'd half-expected her to play one of his songs, or – far worse – one of his rivals'. Ever since he'd made it big he didn't really like listening to other artists who performed songs from the same genre as him – it just made him feel weird, like he was supporting his rivals.

She smiled at him, probably the first time she'd done so since they met. "Really? It's one of my favourites," she said, tapping out the rhythm on the dashboard in front of her. "It's a rather old song; I didn't think anyone else really listened to Sinatra anymore."

Just then, Sinatra started singing and both of them sang along, unable to resist.

_Start spreading the news  
_ _I'm leaving today  
_ _I want to be a part of it, New York, New York_

They slipped effortlessly into a two-part harmony, just enjoying singing with each other.

_These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray  
_ _I wanna be a part of it, New York, New York  
_ _I wanna wake up in a city, that doesn't sleep  
_ _And find your king of the hill, top of the heap_

Their voices climbed together with Sinatra's, and Minori couldn't help but smile. Whatever else she thought about Sho, he was incredibly talented and singing with him was a joy.

_These little town blues, they're melting away  
_ _I'll make a brand new start of it, in Old New York  
_ _If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere  
_ _It's up to you, New York, New York  
_ _New York, New York  
_ _I want to wake up in a city, that never sleeps  
_ _And find A number one, top of the list, king of the heap  
_ _A number one_

They geared up for the final chorus, which they had to belt out with full commitment.

_These little town blues, are melting away  
_ _I'm gonna make a brand new start of it  
_ _In Old New York  
_ _And if I can make it there, I'm gonna make it anywhere  
_ _It's up to you, New York, New York  
_ _New York!_

"Yes, nice!" Minori cheered when the song ended. Even Sho was smiling.

"You're quite a good singer," he complimented. He'd said it to her before, but as he recalled she had been pretty wasted and might not remember, and besides, it bore repeating.

Minori understood what a concession it was for him to say that, especially when she wasn't even singing on his tour. "Thank you," she accepted the compliment graciously.

"Have you ever thought about, you know, entering showbiz?" he asked.

She laughed.

"What? It's a legitimate question! You're definitely talented enough; better than some of the posers who get people to write songs for them and use auto-tune," he said defensively.

"No, it's more of a hobby for me, I think. There are some other things I want to do with my life."

"Oh," he accepted her answer and they lapsed into comfortable silence for a short while, Sho focusing on driving while Minori texted someone, smiling at their responses.

"Who are you texting? A boyfriend?" he asked, the last part slipping out unbidden. He cringed. Why did he care? Now he sounded like some sappy dork with a crush. He was Fuwa Sho, dammit! The most famous singer in the country!

"Oh, it's just Kyoko-senpai," Minori said distractedly, still fiddling with her phone.

"Oh, is that so?" he said, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel restlessly. "How is she these days?" he asked, trying to sound casual and semi-failing.

Minori turned to look at him thoughtfully, and he tried to school his expression into one of casual indifference. He probably failed, but hey, he was a singer and not an actor like that soulless couple!

Minori knew there was a deeper meaning behind the seemingly casual question, but took pity on him anyway. "She's doing really well, actually," she said, pretending not to notice his inner struggle. "Kuon-san makes her happy, and she's made good friends at LME. Her career is going really well, too. She's finally getting some recognition and lead roles. You know she was Lady Macbeth in that movie adaptation that came out a few months ago, right? It really increased her profile, especially since Lady Macbeth is such a complex character."

"Oh," Sho didn't know what to say. On one hand, he was kind of upset and jealous that Kyoko's acting career was going so well, because he knew she'd only joined in the first place because he'd goaded her into doing so, to get revenge on him. He'd been so sure at the time that she would fail miserably and slink back to Kyoto, and it was unpleasant having to eat his words, even internally. But on the other hand, the part of him that had been her childhood friend and witnessed how tragic her life had been couldn't help but be begrudgingly impressed, and even happy for Kyoko.

"That's… that's good," he finally said, not altogether convincingly.

"Mhm, it really is. Are you excited to see your family?" Minori changed the subject; seeing Sho flounder like this was painful.

"I guess so," he said, grateful for the change in topic. "They've come to Tokyo a few times to visit, but I haven't been back since I left, and that was six years ago. I'm rather curious to see how the inn looks these days."

Minori smiled. "That's nice. I'll probably bring my mother there for lunch; she loves the restaurant at the Fuwa inn."

Sho hummed; sometimes he forgot how things worked in the small town he'd grown up in. Everyone seemed to know each other, and they were constantly running into people they knew. He supposed it was nice, just not for him. He'd grown to love Tokyo, but it would be nice to see how things were. He was suddenly glad Shoko had forced him into this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick maths: Minori is about nineteen in this story (since they graduate high school at eighteen and this is after her first year of college) so Sho and Kyoko are twenty-one, and Kuon is twenty-five. Since Sho left when he was fifteen, he hasn't been home in six years.
> 
> Song creds: New York, New York by Frank Sinatra – one of my favourites. I know it's pretty unlikely that they're actually singing these songs since this story is set in Japan, but unfortunately I don't really listen to Japanese music so I can't provide more realistic songs for the story. Just pretend that these songs are equivalent Japanese songs please.


	11. Chapter 11

"All right, we're almost here," Sho said, as they passed by the sign on the highway indicating that they were just one kilometer away from the exit into their hometown. Minori had fallen asleep about half an hour into the car ride, and blinked sleepily, reorienting herself.

"Right, right," she said, yawning. "This seat is really incredible. The massage function is just spectacular."

He laughed a little. "Sure, it's nice to enjoy it when you aren't driving."

She flushed. "Sorry, I should probably have stayed up to keep you company."

He shrugged. "It's fine, your playlist did a good enough job. Where do you want me to drop you off? You have to give me an address."

"Oh, you can just drop me off at the train station. It should be on the way. I had planned to take the train anyway, so I'll just make my way to my mother's apartment from there."

He frowned. "It's fine, I'll just drop you off at her apartment. Just tell me where it is."

Hesitantly, she told him the address. His expression got a little more pinched when he heard it – it was in a more rundown area of town, certainly nowhere for a woman to be living alone. When he said as much, though, Minori just shrugged, though it looked a little forced with the new tension in her shoulders. "Yes, well, that's the best she can afford at the moment. I'm working on getting her a better place."

He sensed he'd stepped on a minefield and backed off immediately, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Um, right, anyway… I'll just drop you off there then. Should I pick you up from there as well?"

"Probably. Just text me when you want to leave and I'll confirm with you again."

He agreed, and they sat there in tense silence until he pulled up at the entrance of her mother's apartment building. It was a little rundown, but not too bad, he supposed, although it wasn't in the safest part of town. It was only about five storeys tall, and a rather old and dirty building, with a few patches of paint peeling off. He was pretty sure there wasn't an elevator in the building either, or if there was, it was an old-fashioned and slow one.

"Thanks for the ride, Fuwa-san," she said as she opened the door and stepped out. "I'll see you later," she told him before shutting the door and jogging up the stairs to the entrance of the building.

Her mother's apartment was on the fifth floor, and no, there was no elevator. Minori was panting and had broken into a light sweat by the time she reached her mother's door, and she was rather appalled at the thought of her mother climbing up all these stairs every day, especially if she was carrying heavy groceries, since she was sure no one was helping her bring them up.

She knocked on the door excitedly, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet as she heard movement behind the door.

"Mi-chan!" her mother cried out when she opened the door and saw her daughter standing there.

Minori stepped through the door and gave her mother a hug. "Mother, hi!" she greeted her mother excitedly.

"What are you doing here so early? I thought you were going to be here around ten-thirty, and I was supposed to meet you at the train station."

"Oh, Fuwa Sho – you remember him, right? He was the boy Kyoko-senpai stayed with – was coming to town to visit his parents too, and his manager rented him a car to drive here, so he gave me a lift."

"Oh, that's very nice of him," her mother commented. "Anyway, come sit down, tell me more about your tour and how your school year went! I'm so proud of you, you know," she said, giving her daughter another little squeeze before ushering her over to the couch.

Minori sat down, expecting her mother to sit too, but she instead bustled over to the small kitchenette and began preparing a pot of tea. Minori turned to peer over the back over the couch at her mother. "Mom, please, you don't have to do that. Come sit down and rest. You've been working too hard again, haven't you?" she said worriedly.

"Hmm?" Her mother paused her activities and turned to look at her. "Of course not, don't worry so much about your mother, dear," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyway, what did you want to do today?" she asked.

Minori smiled. "Well, I thought I could take you to lunch at the Fuwa inn! I know you love that place," she said enthusiastically. "Then in the afternoon, maybe we could go shopping or something, for new clothes, groceries, whatever you want."

Bringing the pot of tea over to the coffee table, Minori's mother sat down next to her. "Okay, but if you think you're going to pay for everything like always…"

Minori smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about, mom," she said, feigning ignorance.

The older woman narrowed her eyes at her daughter, but ultimately decided to drop it.

"Well, we can leave for lunch in about two hours, but until then, I want to know everything about what's been going on since the last time I saw you! You came back for winter break, but it's been almost six months. I missed my baby girl."

Minori looked a little guilty. "I miss you too, mom. You know I hate staying away, it's just something I have to do. I want to move you out to Tokyo as soon as possible, and let you live in a nice apartment with a lift and a doorman and security system."

Her mother looked a little misty at that. "Oh, don't you worry about that right now, dear. Tell me about Tokyo," she said, trying to change the subject. So Minori did, telling her mother all about the tour, about the new friends she'd made and the new places she'd visited, about every funny thing everyone had done, and about her first year of law school and how she was enjoying what she was learning but the competition was exhausting, to say the least.

Before they knew it, two hours had passed and it was time for them to leave for lunch.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sho had driven to his childhood home at the inn, pulling carelessly into the parking lot and getting out of the car. Completely nonchalant about the stir he was creating, he swaggered through the front entrance.

"Oh, welcome –" his mother said, automatically rushing out to greet the new visitor once she heard the front door open.

"Hi, mom," he said casually.

"Sho-chan, you came home!" she cried out, rushing over as quickly as she could in her yukata to hug her erstwhile son. "You didn't tell me you were coming, we would have prepared your favourite food and everything…" she fussed as she all but dragged him to the kitchen of the restaurant, where her husband was preparing his ingredients for the lunch crowd.

"Dear, look, Sho's home!" she exclaimed excitedly, still clutching on to Sho as if he would disappear if she let go.

"Good to see you, son." The taciturn man nodded at Sho, and he knew that for his father, that was an incredibly moving display of emotion.

"Happy to be back, dad," he responded. The man nodded again in acknowledgement, and turned back to his vegetables.

"Sho-chan, I'm so glad to see you! How long are you staying for?" she asked as they went to the staff area to sit and chat.

"I'm here just for the day, mom. I drove up from the town where I performed yesterday. I actually drove up with one of my backup dancers, who is from the same area."

"Really? Who is it? Do I know her?"

Sho coughed. "Maybe. She was one of Kyoko's friends here, I think, although I didn't remember her when I first met her."

"Really? How did you find out?"

With that, Sho launched into the story of how Kyoko had barged rudely into his rehearsal, and screamed at him in front of everyone. Hearing about her young charge, Sho's mother forgot all about the backup dancer, and asked eagerly after Kyoko instead.

"Wow, that really doesn't sound like Kyoko-chan at all! I suppose she's changed a lot since she left home." There was an awkward moment as they remembered exactly why Kyoko had left, but they glossed over it quickly.

"Tell me more about Kyoko-chan! I've seen her on TV and in movies, but she's rather guarded about her personal life, and she's so busy we haven't had time to talk in a long time."

Sho hesitated awkwardly. "Well, I haven't really been keeping track of her. She's started going out with the Hizuri guy, and he seems to make her happy, so that's good." He didn't really know what else to say – he couldn't very well tell his mother about how incredibly jealous he was that she had found love with someone else. He supposed part of him had always thought that in the end it would be the two of them against the world, no matter what he'd done to her.

"Oh, she's found herself a boyfriend? That's sweet, although I have to admit, I did always have a secret hope that the two of you would get married," his mother said with a wistful sigh, resting her chin on her palm, elbow on the coffee table. Her eyes drifted off slightly, staring at a spot just beyond Sho's head, and he knew she was probably imagining an idyllic fantasy future where he and Kyoko took over the inn and Kyoko became the next proprietress.

"Yeah, well, life works out in unexpected ways all the time," he said gruffly.

She turned her head slightly to look at him. "Hmm? Oh, yes, I suupose it's true," she said. "Ignore me, sweetie. Your mother is just feeling a little bit maudlin. You being back home brings up so many memories."

He smiled at her fondly. "For me, too," he told her. After all, no matter how much he hadn't wanted to take over the inn, how boring he found it all, he'd still grown up here, and these walls held so many memories for him. To a certain extent, no matter where he went, what kind of swanky apartment he lived in, he would never stop thinking of this place as home.

His mother smiled at him fondly. "I'm glad you came home to visit, Sho-chan," she said. "You know I worry about you in the big city all by yourself."

"Oh, mom, living in Tokyo is actually really interesting and fun. When you and dad retire, maybe you can come live in Tokyo. I can more than afford to support you," he said, and meant it. While he used to think living away from his parents was the best, recently he'd started thinking that maybe it was nice to stay with them. After all, he sometimes missed them, and they had spent their whole lives working in Kyoto. It would be nice for them to be able to retire somewhere else, experience a different kind of life.

"Is it? Tell me more about your fun little exploits," she encouraged, and off he went. They chatted until the lunch crowd started arriving, when the okami-san had to go back out to greet the guests. She put Sho on waiter duty, just like old times, no matter that he'd been gone for six years and was a famous pop star now. When he came home, he was still their little boy.


	12. Chapter 12

Minori and her mother took a bus down to the Fuwa Inn, and if she was being honest, the thing she missed the least about Kyoto was the judgmental looks the two of them got from passers-by.

She tried her best to put it out of her head for the day; no point ruining one of the few days she actually got to spend with her mother thinking about something she couldn't change for the time being.

When they walked into the Fuwa Inn, the okami-san immediately appeared. "Welcome – Minori-chan?! Hello!" she greeted enthusiastically. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were going to school in Tokyo!"

Minori smiled at the older woman. "I am, but it's summer break. I'm just here for the day."

Okami-san hummed. "What a coincidence, Sho-chan's back for the day too!"

"Yes, I know. We actually drove up together," she said lightly.

"Really? You're the backup dancer?! I thought you were studying law! I didn't know you wanted to go into showbiz!" Okami-san exclaimed, shocked.

"Um, I am studying law. This is kind of a summer job for me," she said slightly awkwardly. "Anyway, since I'm back here I thought I would take my mother out for lunch. This restaurant is her favourite," she said, smiling.

"Oh, of course! Right this way, Minori-chan, Hamasaki-san," she said, bowing slightly and gesturing with her hands.

"Thank you, Okami-san," Minori said graciously as she and her mother followed the other woman. "I missed Fuwa-sensei's food too! You always fed me so well when I was working here."

Okami-san waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, it was our pleasure!" she said. "We suffer a bit from empty nest syndrome these days."

Minori and her mother toed off their shoes before sitting down on the cushions. The traditional Japanese inn only had floor seating, rather than Western-style furniture. Okami-san kneeled on the mat next to their table.

"Do you need some time to decide what to order?" Okami-san asked, brandishing some menus.

"Oh, it's fine, whatever Fuwa-sensei recommends for the day! Everything he makes is delicious," Minori said, smiling at the older woman.

"Oh, you're too kind, dear. I'll go tell him Minori-chan's here, he'll make sure you two are well taken care of," Okami-san said, standing up and bowing as she left towards the kitchen.

"She's a nice woman," Minori's mother remarked.

Minori smiled. "She is, and she was a nice boss too." Okami-san had never made her feel small for being born to a single mother. She supposed it was because she knew Kyoko too, who had been in similar circumstances when she was in Kyoto. She was maybe a little cool to her mother, but she still greeted her, and was never was blatantly mean as others living in this town.

"Hey, is that Fuwa Sho?" her mother asked, pointing subtly at a tall blonde boy wiping down tables.

Minori looked over, and laughed, startled. "Oh my God, it is!" she said, delighted. She surreptitiously took a photo to send to Kumiko with the caption "LOL" and put her phone away. Her phone immediately vibrated about ten times non-stop, but she ignored it.

"Mom, tell me more about how life has been for you since I left! Are people treating you okay?" she asked.

"Well, same as always, I suppose," her mother said nonchalantly, but Minori frowned. Same as always was  _not_ okay, it meant people were treating her like shit. "Really, don't worry about me, honey. Today is all about you, I'm so excited to see you!" she said, grabbing Minori's hand. "I'm so proud of you, you know, going to the best school in the country and all."

"Oh, Mom…" Unable to help it, Minori got a little misty.

Just then, Okami-san returned with Sho in tow, each of them carrying a tray of food.

"Minori-chan, Fuwa-sensei was so excited to hear that you were here! He's preparing a full omakase meal for you," Okami-san said, beaming at the girl. She placed the tray she was holding in front of Minori, while Sho did the same for Minori's mother.

"Oh, my, that's very nice of him," she said. "I'll have to go and thank him for his delicious cooking later." At the inn, omakase was usually reserved for dinner, unless there was a special reservation made ahead of time.

"Oh, sweetie, don't worry about it, just enjoy!" Okami-san said, before she bowed and left.

"Yeah, enjoy," Sho grunted, glaring at her as if daring her to say something funny to him.

"Thank you, Fuwa-san," she said, her carefully blank expression not hiding the amusement twinkling merrily in her eyes.

As he turned to leave, she called out, "I'll see you later!" Thankfully, it was still early, and the restaurant was pretty much empty. He flipped her off behind his back, but there was no real malice to it.

After the delicious meal, both Minori and her mother were absolutely stuffed. Every course had been absolutely delicious, of course, and both women had thoroughly enjoyed it. While they were eating, more customers continued to trickle in, and by the time they were done it was almost a full house.

"Okami-san, may we have the bill please?" Minori requested.

"Oh, don't worry about it, it's on the house!" Okami-san said, waving a hand dismissively.

"No, we can't do that!" both Minori and her mother protested. "Please, let me pay," Minori's mother said, reaching into her bag for her wallet. Minori was faster, though, having already prepared for the situation. She reached into her bag and immediately whipped out her credit card, presenting it to Okami-san.

"Okami-san, please let me pay for the meal. It wouldn't be right to eat for free!" Minori pleaded.

"Oh, all right, fine," Okami-san seemed to capitulate, taking the card from Minori.

"Thank you, Okami-san," she said, smiling gratefully. The other woman smiled back, and went to process the payment.

"Oh, sweetie, you really shouldn't have! It's bad enough you send me so much of your stipend money, you shouldn't be paying when we go out together too. I am your mother, after all."

"Mom, please, I really enjoy doing it," Minori said, squeezing her mother's hand.

Just then, Okami-san came back with the bill. "Here you go," she said, presenting the receipt and card to Minori.

Minori checked the bill, then gasped, appalled. "Okami-san! You charged only three thousand yen?!"

Okami-san nodded and smiled serenely. "It's a special offer for omakase lunches."

"Okami-san! I know how much the omakase set costs, please charge the full amount!" It usually cost a minimum of eight thousand yen per person, and Minori had been prepared for it.

"Well, some of the regulars have been asking if you could play a piece on the piano, just for old time's sake. Maybe we can call it even after that?" Okami-san asked hopefully.

Minori smiled. "Of course, but I would have done that anyway if you had asked." She got up, helped her mother up, put her shoes on and they walked over to the piano.

Sho, who had been serving food, was curious and followed, seeing that even his father had left the kitchen to listen to Minori play the piano.

She sat down on the bench and wiggled her fingers a little.

"Well, it's nothing much, but this is a little piece I arranged for Kyoko's birthday last year. You remember how much she loves fairytales and stuff," she said, beginning to play.

It was a beautiful rendition of the Disney classic, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes. The arrangement sounded almost sparkly, beautiful and ethereal, and Sho could tell that it was something Kyoko would love. His mother said as much when the song ended.

"Thank you," Minori said, blushing. "She hasn't changed, you know. She's still so frugal, even though she's become really successful, and hates others spending money on her. She's all about gifts from the heart."

Fuwa-sensei came up behind his wife and put an arm around her. "That sounds so much like Kyoko," she told him, leaning into him. He nodded silently.

Minori beamed at them. "Anyway, I recorded it and gave her a CD for her birthday."

Sho frowned. "How did you get access to a recording studio?"

Minori shrugged. "Oh, Kuon-san helped. He managed to get me time at a music studio in LME to put everything together and arranged for me to record it too. It seems even the president of LME has quite a soft spot for Kyoko; once he heard that it was for her he basically rushed to accommodate my schedule."

"Kyoko-chan certainly seems to win hearts wherever she goes," Fuwa-sensei commented.

"Well, she is a very sweet girl, after all," Okami-san said in agreement.

Minori smiled. "Well, she certainly is. Thank you so much for the wonderful meal, Fuwa-sensei, Okami-san! It was truly delicious, Fuwa-sensei, you never cease to wow me."

He smiled a little and nodded his acknowledgement of the compliment.

"Well, we should go," Minori said, standing up. She bowed again deeply. "Thank you for your hospitality," she said, and she and her mother left.

"Talented girl," Sho's mother said as she watched Minori and her mother walk down the steps and leave the inn. "And smart, too, getting into law school, and at Todai, no less."

His father nodded silently.

"And it's really too bad about her mother, she seems like a nice woman, just made some mistakes in her youth," she continued. They were rather used to this – his father was a quiet man and to fill in the void his mother spoke enough for the both of them. Their conversations tended to consist mostly of her chattering on while he listened and nodded or shook his head where appropriate.

"Well, back to work," she said, turning around and shooing them back into the restaurant.

Sho followed his mother, but was still slightly shocked, and trying to wrap his head around what he'd just found out about Minori. She was not just a good singer, but clearly had some talent with writing music, too. Granted, it hadn't been an original composition but an arrangement of an existing song, but that wasn't easy either, he knew from experience.

"She really could make it in showbiz," he muttered to himself, but his mother heard him saying something.

"Sho-chan, what is it?" she asked.

"Hmm? Nothing much, I was just thinking that she's talented enough to make it in showbiz," he said.

"Well, maybe, but she has responsibilities. The poor girl walks around like she has the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. Besides, you know better than anyone else that breaking into showbiz takes time. She doesn't have Kyoko or anyone to help her support herself while she does that, and she wants to support her mother. Law school was the responsible choice for her, especially since she managed to find that scholarship."

Sho frowned at the reminder that he couldn't have broken into showbiz without Kyoko helping him with his living expenses while he'd attended auditions and worked furiously to get a contract with a recording company. He'd almost forgotten how hard it had been to break in, how long it had taken and how desperately poor they'd been while he worked to get a foot in the door.

"No, I suppose you're right," he said slowly, following his mother back to the restaurant. "It's a pity, though."

"Sho-chan, showbiz isn't for everyone," his mother admonished gently.

"Maybe not, but it's sad that her choice is driven so much by necessity rather than a lack of desire."

"Well, that's life, I'm afraid. Not everyone gets everything they want all the time." With that, the conversation was over, and his mother went back to waiting on the customers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The piano piece I was thinking of when I wrote this was Marilyn Byrnes' rendition of the song. It really is beautiful, I recommend you listen to it. It's my favourite song on my study playlist. It's on Spotify if you're interested.
> 
> Also, just a note: Todai is an abbreviation of Tokyo University, which is called Tokyo Daigaku in Japanese.


	13. Chapter 13

" _When u wna go?_ "

" _Mayb 7. Ok?_ "

" _Ok. Pick me same spot. Don't get out of the car._ "

Sho frowned at the strange instruction. In all honesty, he was about ready to go. He'd missed his parents, and was happy to see them again, but being back at the inn and having to wait tables just reminded him of how much he'd hated it the first time around and why he'd wanted to leave in the first place. The regulars at the inn all gushed over him, saying how big he'd gotten, and after word had gotten around that Fuwa Sho was at the inn apparently visiting his parents, it seemed like all the teenage girls of Kyoto had flocked to the inn to catch a glimpse of him. He didn't really mind the attention; in fact, he found it rather flattering and rather enjoyed it. But all these girls were filling up the restaurant, not ordering any food but drinking green tea, and his parents were getting pissed off which was not pleasant for him either.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and left the inn earlier than he needed to, bidding his parents goodbye. "Don't stay away so long again," his mother had admonished as she hugged him tearfully, and his father had sent him on his way with a nod and a pat to the back. He would be early to Minori's mother's apartment, but he figured he could always just wait in the car in the apartment parking lot. After all, he wanted to get a chance to enjoy the seat's massagers too.

* * *

At this time, Minori was back at the apartment with her mother. It had been a pretty good day: the two of them had gone shopping, then to the grocery store, then the markets. She'd managed to stock up on necessities for her mother and even paid for most of it while her mother was distracted with something or other, and carried it up the stairs for her too.

"Oh, Mi-chan, I wish you didn't have to go," her mother said, hugging her tightly. Minori patted her mother's back. "I wish I didn't have to go either, but I'll see you soon, okay? I'll try to send you some money to come to Tokyo to visit right before school starts again."

The older woman pulled away, intending to protest again about Minori sending her more money, but as she was taking in a breath to start speaking, the door started knocking, a loud, hard, insistent knock that wouldn't go away.

"It's fine, sit down, dear. I'll just go answer the door," her mother instructed as she walked towards the front door.

Slightly worried, Minori sat down on the couch, just out of sight of the front door.

"I'm increasing your rental," was the first thing the visitor said the moment Minori's mother opened the door.

"What? But the lease isn't up for renewal yet…" she protested.

"Yeah, but I heard that your daughter came to the building today in a fancy car. The whore's daughter has gotten herself a rich boyfriend, eh? Following in her mother's footsteps? You can more than afford to pay more rent. Just get her to send you more money."

That was it. Minori stood up and went to the door, standing behind her mother. The man – who she supposed was the landlord – was a short man with a beer belly, dressed in an undershirt and shorts.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, feigning calm when all she wanted to do was drop kick him back down the stairs for calling her mother names and trying to extort more money out of her.

"Oh, you're the daughter? Excellent. I'm raising your mother's rent by fifty thousand yen. Pay up now."

"You're raising her rent? In the middle of the lease? That's funny, I seem to recall that the contract you both signed has a clause explicitly forbidding raising the rent in the middle of the lease period."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does. I was the one who put it there. Didn't you read the lease before you signed it? I know my mother used the version that I sent her."

The landlord tried a different tactic. "And what are you going to do if I kick her out of the apartment, hmm? You think you have the upper hand here?" the man sneered.

"Mi-chan, please, it's fine," her mother pleaded. "I can afford the higher rent."

"See? Even your mother knows her place in society. What's the problem?"

That was it. "You  _miserable little fucker –_ " she shouted as she took a step towards him.

Sho, downstairs in the car with the windows rolled down, heard what sounded like Minori shouting, and looked up. When he heard a man shouting as well, curiosity got the better of him and he got out of the car to investigate, ignoring Minori's instructions.

Climbing up the five flights of stairs – and seriously, would it be too difficult to just install a damn lift?! – he saw Minori in a screaming match with a middle-aged man.

"Hey, what's going on here?" he asked, shouting to be heard over the fight.

"Fuwa Sho?! That's who you've shacked up with? Oh, don't play with me, girlie. Your whore mother can more than afford to pay a higher rent if you're hooking up with Japan's hottest singer."

Minori whipped around to glare at him. "God dammit, I told you to wait in the car!" she shouted.

Sho ignored her. "How much do you want?" he asked the man.

"See? He's a reasonable man. Go back inside and let the men talk business, dear," the landlord said condescendingly.

"You know, I go to school in Tokyo University," Minori said casually, leaning against the door.

"So? Why are you bragging about it now?" the landlord said dismissively.

"Oh, just wanted to make sure you understood the implications of me reading law at Tokyo University. You know, the school that has spawned about fifteen prime ministers and of course, men and women who have gone on to fill positions like the head of MITI and head multinational firms?"

He scoffed. "Don't try to threaten me. How could a whore like you ever become an important person?"

She shrugged. "Maybe you're right. But I still know my fellow law students. You know, men and women who could wind up in very influential positions?"

He started looking a little shifty. "What's your point?"

"You know, I love my mother a lot. So I have a very long and clear memory when it comes to people who try to extort money from her, or call her names. You seem like a smart businessman. Do you really think it's wise to threaten her, when I've seen at least three violations of the residential building regulations in this building already?" She left the threat hanging in the air.

"You bitch. You better watch out. You can't be here to protect her all the time –"

"No, you're right. I'm leaving now, in fact. But I don't have to be around to know what happens around here. And if I hear one word of you mistreating my mother, not resolving an issue regarding her apartment the  _second_ it's brought to your attention, encouraging or even condoning any ill treatment of her in your building or outside of it, by a tenant or anyone else associated with you, there will be inspectors crawling all over this building. Do I make myself clear?"

He glared at her, but knew better than to press the issue at this point. He was an opportunistic businessman, not a suicidal idiot.

"Fine," he sulked, skulking away.

"And spread the word. If I hear about anyone ever being anything other than perfectly polite and cordial to my mother –"

"Yeah, yeah," he said resentfully before he walked down the stairs and she couldn't see him anymore.

"Oh, Mi-chan, you didn't have to do that," her mother said fretfully.

"No, mom, it's fine. Assholes like that shouldn't be doing this to you, that's not right."

"Honey, I'm used to it, it's fine, really."

"Oh, mom, I hate that this happens to you here," Minori said, hugging her mother. "I have to go now, but I'll call you soon and we'll see if we can get you to Tokyo before the end of the summer, okay?"

"All right, sweetie. Bye," she said, hugging her daughter one last time before they parted.

Minori walked past Sho and descended the stairs, her face stony.

"Hey," he protested, following her. "What was that all about?"

She didn't turn back. "Not here." Her tone of voice indicated that she was clearly still fuming.

They walked in silence to the car, where Minori silently got in once Sho unlocked the door.

"So, do you want to tell me what all that was about?" he prompted as he started the car.

"What's there to say? I think what you witnessed was rather self-explanatory," she said. "This is why I told you to wait in the car. People don't need to know that my mother is associated with Fuwa Sho."

Sho was, quite frankly, shocked at that. Bar Kyoko, most girls – and their mothers – were falling all over themselves to be associated with Fuwa Sho. He knew because there were frequent tabloid exposés claiming to have the scoop on his illegitimate love child, or a secret girlfriend back home, all backed up by ludicrous stories random fans 'leaked'.

"You didn't need to do all that back there, you know. I don't mind helping your mother out."

She scoffed. "You think this is helping her out? And what happens when word gets out that my mother is associated with Fuwa Sho, who is more than happy to throw money at anyone who gives her trouble? Do you see why that might create a bit of a problem for my mother in the future?"

Sho gaped at her. He hadn't thought about that.

She looked at him and gasped. "Look at the road, dammit! Are you trying to get us killed?"

Shocked that he had forgotten he was driving, Sho wrenched his gaze back to the road ahead of him. It was just lucky that they were reaching the highway and there was almost nobody there.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of it that way," he offered.

She sighed, slumping back against her seat. "It's not your fault," she said, covering her face with her arm. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you were trying to help when you offered. It's fine, though. I was just upset because I hate doing that, pulling the Todai card. It makes me feel like I'm just as low as all of them. I was taking it out on you, and you didn't deserve it. It's not your problem; it's a Hamasaki problem."

He looked at her askance for just a moment. He could see what his mother meant, now. Minori took on so much responsibility and refused to share her burdens. He knew that she tended to mother the other backup performers, especially the dancers, which had surprised him at first since she was about the youngest member of the crew. He saw now, though, that she had lots of practice with being the responsible one since there wasn't much room for a dependent, sheltered member of her broken, tiny family. It wasn't that he had been oblivious to this, having grown up with Kyoko, but it struck him again how fortunate he had been to be born to the family that he'd had, where he hadn't had to worry about all the things she did, where he'd had the freedom to pursue his dream.

He wondered what her dream was.

She was silent for a while, and when he looked over again, he saw that she'd fallen asleep, exhausted after the day she'd had.

He pulled over for a moment, shedding his jacket and throwing it over her.

Minori stirred for a moment when she felt something heavy covering her, then settled back in when she saw he'd draped his jacket over her. She smiled sleepily for a moment and murmured her thanks as she tucked it around herself, clutching at the collar.


	14. Chapter 14

It was almost ten at night by the time Sho and Minori got back to their hotel, and when Sho woke Minori up she just murmured discontentedly as she returned him his jacket, then slid out of the car almost bonelessly, traipsing after him back to the elevators that would take them back to their rooms.

"Thanks for driving me," she said softly as they waited for the elevator to arrive. "Sorry I fell asleep again, and I never got to ask you how your day went."

He shrugged. "It's no big deal. I know you were tired after the day you had. My day was boring – my parents are nice, but waiting tables at the inn is not exactly my idea of a fun time. It's why I didn't stay in Kyoto to begin with."

The elevator came and they got on for the short ride to their floor, standing in comfortable silence until Minori yawned again.

"Get some rest," he advised her as they got out of the elevators.

She nodded. "I will. And, Fuwa-san?" she asked right before he turned to walk back to his own room.

He looked at her questioningly.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else about my family situation," she requested.

He acquiesced easily; he understood that it was a sensitive topic. He had had the same unspoken agreement with Kyoko.

Minori went back to her room, which was empty and dark. She'd known it would be – the others had gone out drinking, and Kumiko had invited Minori along, but she'd declined, since she was in no mood for it and didn't want to be the wet blanket.

She showered, got ready for bed and slid under the covers, but found that she couldn't sleep. After lying there in the dark for about an hour, she finally gave up and turned on the lights.

She remembered that there was a small music room in the inn, and figured she might as well spend some time there. Maybe it would help her sleep later.

Putting on her glasses and pulling a sweatshirt over her camisole, she stuffed her feet into slippers and left the room.

It really was a small music room, she noticed when she got there. There was a piano there and not much else, but she found to her joy as she sat down and randomly hit a few keys that the piano was in beautiful condition.

She began playing some of her favourite songs, humming or singing along, just enjoying the music.

It wasn't until about about an hour later that she began to play some of the songs she had written herself.

_Turning the ground  
_ _I once used to know  
_ _People are strangers  
_ _Same as before  
_ _Streets look familiar  
_ _I remember the park  
_ _Where I buried my head  
_ _So deep in my hands  
_ _All around me was dark_

It was serendipitous timing that at she started to sing her own songs, Sho walked in the room. He'd been unable to sleep too, and had come up with the same idea as Minori, and was dressed casually in a t-shirt and sweatpants with his guitar in hand. There was a small window in the door so Sho could see that the room was occupied, although since Minori's back was facing him he didn't realise who it was and couldn't hear anything either.

He scowled in annoyance, as he'd wanted the room to himself. He started to open the door to chase the person inside out, sure that it was some loser just tinkering away on the keys to kill time, but when he heard the voice and realised that it was Minori inside, he stepped quietly into the room so as to not disturb her.

_This here city  
_ _Has fall along with me once  
_ _Won't find no angels  
_ _Sell a map to the lost  
_ _This here place  
_ _Is too small for two  
_ _It took one to realize  
_ _When dreaming's this hard  
_ _It's not meant to come true_

She threw her head back as she sang the chorus, eyes closed tightly against the memories that came to mind when she sang this song.

_So throw me a line  
_ _Somebody out there help me  
_ _I'm on my own  
_ _I'm on my own_

Her voice trembled as she sang those lines.

_Throw me a line  
_ _Afraid that I have come here  
_ _To win you again  
_ _With trembling hands_   


_Passing the days  
_ _Looking over the buildings  
_ _Time seems to stop  
_ _While the millions keep moving  
_ _Now here I am  
_ _I'm a drop in your ocean  
_ _Noise in the crowd  
_ _Pushing through your halls of reason_   


_So throw me a line  
_ _Somebody out there help me  
_ _I'm on my own  
_ _I'm on my own_   


_Throw me a line  
_ _Afraid that I have come here  
_ _To win you again  
_ _With trembling hands_

_Hear me now make me whole, whole  
_ _Hear me now make me whole, whole  
_ _So throw me a line  
_ _Somebody out there help me  
_ _I'm on my own  
_ _I'm on my own_

_Throw me a line  
_ _Afraid that I have come here  
_ _To win you again  
_ _With trembling hands  
_ _Trembling hands  
_ _There goes the ending_

_It left me in the war  
_ _But I tried everything yeah  
_ _I'm done with my part_

She took in a deep breath when she finished the song, looking down at her lap as she took her hands off the piano.

"That's a beautiful song. I've never heard it before," Sho commented, and shocked, she turned around with a cry.

"Jesus Christ, Fuwa-san, knock much? You might have killed me," she muttered, pressing a hand to her chest. "That's because I wrote it," she responded when she gained her wits back.

"I didn't know you wrote music," he said, perhaps rather stupidly.

She gave him a half-smile as she turned back towards the piano. "How could you? I don't tell a lot of people. It's just a hobby."

He straightened up from his previous position leaning against the wall and walked over to her, standing next to the piano.

"You're really good," he complimented.

"Thank you. I needed an outlet for all the stress," she explained.

"When did you write this?" he asked.

"About one and a half years ago, when I was thinking about applying for the scholarship to study at Todai. Even though it was silly, I was kind of hesitant to leave home and go to Tokyo alone initially, because I didn't want to leave my mom, and I was just scared of moving, you know?"

He nodded, although he didn't really get it – he'd dreamed all his youth of leaving Kyoto to make it big in Tokyo.

"So what changed your mind?"

"Well, I had to apply to Todai to get the scholarship, obviously, so I had to take a few days off school to go to Tokyo for the admissions tests and interviews. And in the time that I was gone, someone had spread a rumour in school that I'd taken time off because I was pregnant and was eloping with my boyfriend."

Sho grimaced.

"When I came back, I was subject to grilling from my teachers and I was even called down to the principal's office. Which was ridiculous, because I'd applied for the leave of absence, sent in copies of the emails and all that. They all knew that I'd gone to Tokyo for the admissions tests.

"That was when I decided to leave. I mean, I'd never really been well-liked, because mothers would tell their children to stay away from me, not to come to my house and interact with my mother and I, all that jazz. But I'd honestly never thought that even the teachers would misuse their powers to make my life difficult like that. Those few days in Tokyo were some of the best days of my life. When I walked down the street, nobody would stare at me, or call me names, nobody even knew who I was. It was so freeing. Going back to Kyoto after that and realising how differently I was treated… it made me really rethink staying there. I could have, of course. I was accepted to Kyoto University as well.

"This song was just about me kind of letting go of the idea that Kyoto could be my home. I was so lost at the time, I didn't know what to do or who I could ask for advice – obviously I couldn't go to the school career counsellor. I mean, I'd always known that I was treated differently from the others, but I was just done with the town at that point, like I'd tried all my life to redeem myself in their eyes for something that wasn't my fault, that shouldn't have been such a big deal to begin with, and all I got for it was stupid pregnancy rumours ever since puberty."

Sho sat down on the bench next to her, and she shifted over to give him more room. "I'm sorry I was mean to you," he offered.

"Don't worry about it, really," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "All things considered, you really weren't that mean to me. Calling me names whenever you saw me really wasn't as bad as what some others did. You never sought me out to make my life miserable, or spread rumours about me or anything. And even as far as names go, nerd-san wasn't as bad as some other names I was called."

Then she seemed to realise where she was. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same question."

She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep, thought I would kill some time."

"That's why I'm here too."

"Oh, do you want me to leave?" she asked, trying to be considerate.

"No, it's fine, stay," he said, beginning to strum some chords on his guitar.

She broke into a smile as she recognized it. "No way," she said, starting to play the piano in tune with him.

He grinned at her, and began to sing.

_Oh, oh, oh  
_ _For the longest time_

She immediately jumped in with the harmonies.

_Oh, oh, oh  
_ _For the longest  
_ _If you said goodbye to me tonight  
_ _There would still be music left to write  
_ _What else could I do  
_ _I'm so inspired by you  
_ _That hasn't happened for the longest time_

They turned to each other, enjoying the way their voices harmonized.

_Once I thought my innocence was gone  
_ _Now I know that happiness goes on  
_ _That's where you found me  
_ _When you put your arms around me  
_ _I haven't been there for the longest time_

After the chorus they switched seamlessly, Minori taking the melody while Sho sang the harmonies.

_Oh, oh, oh  
_ _For the longest time  
_ _Oh, oh, oh  
_ _For the longest_

_I'm that voice you're hearing in the hall  
_ _And the greatest miracle of all  
_ _Is how I need you  
_ _And how you needed me too  
_ _That hasn't happened for the longest time_

_Maybe this won't last very long  
_ _But you feel so right  
_ _And I could be wrong  
_ _Maybe I've been hoping too hard  
_ _But I've gone this far  
_ _And it's more than I hoped for  
_ _Who knows how much further we'll go on_

_Maybe I'll be sorry when you're gone  
_ _I'll take my chances  
_ _I forgot how nice romance is  
_ _I haven't been there for the longest time_

_I had second thoughts at the start  
_ _I said to myself  
_ _Hold on to your heart  
_ _Now I know the woman that you are  
_ _You're wonderful so far  
_ _And it's more than I hoped for_

_I don't care what consequence it brings  
_ _I have been a fool for lesser things  
_ _I want you so bad  
_ _I think you ought to know that  
_ _I intend to hold you for the longest time._

As the last notes died away, they just smiled at each other.

"That's one of my favourite songs," Minori enthused.

The two of them didn't leave the music room that night, just jamming together for hours. When the sun started to shine in through the large window that took up most of one wall, they both laughed, slightly shocked that they had stayed there for so much longer than either had intended. "One last one?" Sho asked, plucking out the chords for one last classic. Recognizing the song immediately, Minori started playing the piano accompaniment.

 _Here comes the sun (doo doo doo doo)_  
Here comes the sun, and I say  


_It's all right_

_Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter_  
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here  


 _Here comes the sun_  
Here comes the sun, and I say  
It's all right

 _Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces_  
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here  
Here comes the sun  
Here comes the sun, and I say  
It's all right

 _Sun, sun, sun, here it comes_  
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes  
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes  
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes  
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

 _Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting_  
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear  
Here comes the sun  
Here comes the sun, and I say  
It's all right

 _Here comes the sun_  
Here comes the sun, and I say  
It's all right  
It's all right

When the last notes of the song died away, Minori and Sho both got up to leave.

"Get some rest," Minori told him as they parted ways at the lobby on their floor. "I'll see you later." He smiled at her and walked back down the corridor to his own room.

Going back to her room, Minori saw Kumiko passed out on the bed still fully dressed, and shook her head fondly as she went to wake Kumiko up and urge her to change out of her uncomfortable-looking outfit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song creds (in order): Trembling Hands by Temper Trap, For the Longest Time by Billy Joel, and Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles.


	15. Chapter 15

The next afternoon found them on the road again. Most of the backup performers were in their bunks, either asleep or just relaxing. Akari and Hiroichi were spending the afternoon snuggled up together, and Seiichi and Minori were the only ones in the seating area reading.

"How was your night?" she asked him, grinning mischievously. Going purely by how tired and haggard the others looked when she saw them getting on the bus, she was willing to bet that they'd had the time of their lives and there were a few good stories to be told.

Seiichi looked up from his book and grinned. "It was an amazing time. Who knew there was such great nightlife in Kyoto?" he said.

She inched closer, interested, turning to face him so that she was sitting sideways on the bench and propping one arm on the back of the seat. "Really? What did you do?"

"Well, we hit a few bars to pregame, then we went to the clubs. Because we're a pretty big group we managed to get a booth, and we got  _wasted_. It was crazy. Aiko and Hanae get super cool and fun when they're drunk," he enthused. "They were like sitting really close, then they started kissing, just playing it up for laughs, you know."

Minori raised a brow with a small half-smile. "They do, do they?" she asked. Maybe there was something more to her little hunch, after all.

"Yeah, it was awesome! And, you know, I used to think they were kind of aloof and snooty because they just stuck to Fuwa Sho all the time and were kind of rude to the rest of us, but we really got to know them better last night and I think away from Fuwa Sho, they're really pretty decent people."

"That's nice, that everyone seems to be getting along better now."

"Yeah, and we learned more about them, too. Did you know Aiko actually wants to go into musical theatre? She's doing this for money and to get her foot in the door at Akatoki agency. And, you know, the fact that Hanae is doing it too probably helped."

"Really? Musical theatre, hmm? That's interesting." Minori had actually joined a few musicals in middle school and high school, and her Spotify playlist was full of Broadway classics. "What about Hanae?"

"Oh, you know. Wants to be a pop star, just paying her dues, that kind of thing," Seiichi waved a hand dismissively. She supposed it was the standard story for most backup singers he'd met.

"Wow, they seem to have come from pretty different backgrounds, then. How did they meet?"

"It's actually the cutest story. They're from the same hometown, best friends since young, all that jazz. They moved out to Tokyo together, and they've always been inseparable. Even though their dreams are different, they're happy to be able to perform together."

"Aww, that's actually kind of sweet," Minori said, resting her head on her hands.

"Yeah, I actually feel pretty bad that we judged them so early on. It might even be the case that they stick around Fuwa Sho so much so that they get more opportunities and stuff too, which is a valid strategy, I think."

Minori nodded her assent thoughtfully. She had dismissed the girls out of hand as Fuwa Sho groupies, probably a bias that came from hanging out with Kyoko-senpai and her friends, but maybe there was more to them than that.

"So did anything else interesting happen last night?"

Seiichi smirked. "Oh, you know, the usual. Kumiko got drunk and started dancing on table tops, Akira and Naoki might have mooned a bouncer when he told them they were too drunk to go into the club…"

She gasped and laughed. "No way! What did the bouncer do?"

"Well, he couldn't kick them out of the bar because they weren't in to begin with, obviously. He just sighed really deeply and frowned like he was rethinking his life choices, then he turned back to the line."

"So he basically ignored them?" she asked through giggles.

"Yeah, it was hilarious. They just kept shaking their butts at him but he wasn't even looking at them."

Minori was laughing so hard at this point that her arm slid off the back of the seat. "Man, I wish I'd been there to see it."

"Oh right, speaking of which, how was your day with your mom?"

"It was really good," Minori said, telling him about the day she'd spent while omitting the part where she'd almost assaulted a man for calling her mother names.

"And you went with Fuwa Sho? Did everything go okay?"

She shrugged. "It was fine. We're not best friends, but I appreciated not having to take the train." Nobody knew that she'd spent the night with Fuwa Sho in the music room, and she hoped to keep it that way. The two of them enjoying music together wasn't anything to be ashamed of or embarrassed by, but she knew she would attract lots of teasing and questions – and maybe jealousy from the girls, but now she wasn't so sure – which were unnecessary, since there was nothing to tell.

Seiichi hummed. He could tell there was a lot that Minori was not telling him, but he didn't press the issue. He figured she would tell him eventually, if he ever needed to know, and turned back to his book.

"What are you reading?" Minori asked.

He raised the book so she could see the cover.

"Inglorious Empire, hmm? You know, I've never seen you read anything related to economics," she commented offhandedly. "It almost seems like you're more interested in history and literature than your own major!"

He smiled weakly. "Well, a man can have many interests," he said, not entirely convincingly. He saw Minori study him for a moment, but she let it go, probably coming to the same realization that he'd had earlier about her hiding part of what she'd done yesterday. Somehow the two of them understood each other well, and even though they hadn't known each other for long, had a special bond.

She turned back to her Kindle. She was reading a newly published book about jurisprudence, and as challenging as it was to read, it was also fascinating. Frowning slightly as she adjusted her glasses, she settled into her seat.

* * *

"So, how was your trip back to see your parents?" Shoko asked when Sho emerged from his bed.

He shrugged. "It was okay." He didn't really know what else to say. "It was nice seeing them again, but I hate that inn. I hated it when I had to work there and live there, and I hate waiting tables there now."

Shoko stifled a laugh. "They made you wait tables?" She would have paid money to see that.

He glared at her, knowing what she was thinking. Six years working closely together meant he knew her pretty well by then.

"Yes, they did," he grumped. "And I'm pretty sure Hamasaki-san took a picture when she and her mother came to the inn for lunch." Sometimes it sucked that his father was such an amazing chef that everyone in town loved the restaurant at the inn. Well, it usually sucked because it had always been busy in his childhood and he'd had to help out almost every day, but he was learning now that it sucked in a different way.

Shoko made a mental note to see if she could ask Minori to show her before the tour was over. "And how was the drive with Minori-chan?" she asked, hoping he would reveal some interesting details.

He shrugged. "It was okay. She slept a lot. I think she was pretty tired, especially on the way home."

"Really? How come?"

He hesitated. She'd told him not to tell anyone about her family situation. "There was a… minor altercation," he said in the end. He knew it was vague, and from the way Shoko looked at him, he knew she wanted more details, but that was all he could say for now.

"You fought with her?!" she asked, outraged.

"What? No!" he exclaimed, mentally rewinding what he'd said and realizing how she could have come to that conclusion. "No, she was arguing with someone else about something when I got to her mother's apartment to pick her up."

"Oh, about what?" Shoko asked curiously.

"I don't know, I arrived too late to get any details," he said. It wasn't technically a lie – he hadn't understood what had been going on until she'd explained the situation to him.

"I see. And where were you last night?" she asked, looking at him mischievously. She had a pretty good idea of where he was, and she only hoped it was with a certain someone.

"I was in the music room. I couldn't sleep," he said, not meeting her eyes. When he finally looked up, she was still looking at him and he grew defensive. "What?" he asked rudely.

She smirked at him. "Nothing," she said in a singsong voice. Seeing him sulk, she took pity on him and changed the subject.

"You know, I heard the crew went out last night," she said casually.

He shrugged. "So?" It was common for the crew to go out on scheduled R&Rs on the tour.

"Well, I had to deal with some very interesting complaints this morning," she said, baiting him. She knew that as much as Sho was narcissistic and liked to act cool, he also loved gossip and wouldn't be able to resist the juicy details of the crew's drunk night out.

He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue, but she didn't say anything, just watching him.

Finally, he cracked. "Well?" he prompted.

She smiled slowly. She still had him in the palm of her hand. To some extent, there was some pride there, that she was so able to manipulate one of the most desirable men in Japan. But mostly, she knew that this ability was going to make it easier for her to push him towards the girl she now believed could save him.

Because besides Kyoko, she'd never seen him act with care towards any girl before. And yet she knew he was hiding things from her to protect Minori, and she had a pretty good idea of what it was. Akatoki agency did extensive background checks on any potential hires, and she knew more about Minori's background than they thought.

She wondered if it was the girl's similarities to Kyoko that drew Sho to her. After all, they were from the same hometown, had a similar troubled family background, and were friends, but beyond that they didn't seem to have much in common. Where Kyoko coped with her problems by hiding behind fairytale dreams, Minori seemed to be facing her problems head-on, working as hard as she could to solve them by getting a scholarship to read law at Tokyo University. Still, she supposed they had that intense work ethic and drive in common.

Was it possible that Sho had a type? He claimed to like a certain type of girl – one who was low-maintenance, cute and slightly ditzy who wouldn't challenge him and would shower him with the adulation he thought he needed – but Kyoko, the one girl he couldn't get over after all these years, was anything but his 'ideal type', and so was Minori.

Nevertheless, she was completely certain that Sho was utterly oblivious about his growing feelings towards her, since he was emotionally inept in every way. In some ways, he was still a child, although he was now twenty-one.

She smiled. This tour was going to be the most fun one she'd been on yet.


	16. Chapter 16

(One week later)

After almost a month spent together on the bus, the backup performers had fallen into a comfortable routine. They spread themselves out throughout the bottom deck of the bus, some napping in their respective bunks, some seated in the back of the bus, near the TV, and some in front, where the microwave and sink are. Usually one of them plugged in their phone to share their music, and when a song came on that they knew and liked, they'd sing or hum along.

They got used to Sho joining them occasionally too. He never did on previous tours, but it's actually quite common for stars and their backup performers to become good friends after spending so long in such close quarters. The fact that Sho was joining them now said a lot about his change in attitude towards his career.

Today, Aiko, Hanae, Minori and Kumiko were seated in the back area with Aiko's phone plugged in, playing a shuffled playlist of her Spotify songs. Akari and Hiroichi were snuggled up in their bunk, and the boys were seated in front having some sort of disgusting eating competition.

As the starting chords of the next song started to play, Minori gasped, looking up from her ever-present Kindle. Having finished the book on jurisprudence yesterday, she'd begun on one about the communist uprisings in the Southeast Asian colonies in the immediate postwar period.

"I love this song," she enthused as Aiko grinned at her. This was one of her favourite duets too.

Minori put down her Kindle and swung out of the booth-style seat she was in.

_Every single day_ _  
_ _I walk down the street_

She did a little spin as she stood up before righting herself.

_I hear people say,_ _  
_ _"Baby's so sweet"_ _  
_ _Ever since puberty_ _  
_ _Everybody stares at me_ _  
_ _Boys, girls -_ _  
_ _I can't help it baby_

She leaned in and grabbed Aiko's hands, pulling her up and then pressing her hands against her chest mischievously, as Maureen had done to Joanne.

Aiko grinned and yanked her hands away, pretending to be annoyed as she started to stalk away from her, down along the bunks.

_So be kind_ _  
_ _Don't lose your mind_ _  
_ _Just remember that I'm your baby_

Minori sashayed after Aiko, continuing to sing. Her performance intrigued the others: Hanae and Kumiko got up and followed them curiously, Akari and Hiroichi emerged from their cocoon to stare confusedly at the two girls who were now leaning against the bunks singing, and even Sho came downstairs to see what was happening, sitting on one of the bottom steps.

_Take me for what I am_ _  
_ _Who I was meant to be_ _  
_ _And if you give a damn_ _  
_ _Take me baby or leave me_ __  


Aiko rolled her eyes and flipped her hair, looking away as Minori spun around, her arms outstretched as far as they would go in the narrow aisle between the bunks, soaking up the attention just like Maureen would.

_Take me baby or leave me_ _  
_

She leaned in close to Aiko again and crooned the last line.

_A tiger in a cage_ _  
_ _Can never see the sun_ _  
_ _This diva needs her stage_ _  
_ _Baby - let's have fun!_

Aiko began walking away again, down to the front of the bus, and Minori chased her, still singing.

_You are the one I choose_ _  
_ _Folks would kill to fill your shoes_ _  
_ _You love the limelight too, now baby_ _  
_ _So be mine_ _  
_ _And don't waste my time_ _  
_ _Cryin' - "Oh Honeybear - are you still my baby?"_

Aiko interjected furiously, "Don't you dare!" Minori ignored her with a cheeky twinkle in her eye as she tipped her head back to sing the next verse.

_Take me for what I am_ _  
_ _Who I was meant to be_ _  
_ _And if you give a damn_ _  
_ _Take me baby or leave me_

She picked up one of Aiko's hands as she sang "take me baby", then dropped it and held her hands up, palms out at the next half of the line, her eyes starting to flash in anger.

_No way - can I be what I'm not_ _  
_ _But hey - don't you want your girl hot!_

She cocked her hip and winked at Aiko, who rolled her eyes.

_Don't fight - don't lose your head_ _  
_ _Cause every night - who's in your bed?_ _  
_ _Who? Who's in your bed, baby?_ _  
_ _Kiss Pookie_

She backed Aiko up against the microwave oven and her arms braced her on either side of the sink. She was bent slightly at the waist, her back arched as she pouted up at her, in an expression that Sho, watching from his spot on the stairs, could only describe as breathtakingly adorable.

A breath later, Aiko began to sing in her slightly deeper, raspier voice, pushing Minori away with firm hands on her shoulders.

_It won't work._ _  
_ _I look before I leap_ _  
_ _I love margins and discipline_ _  
_ _I make lists in my sleep_ _  
_ _Baby what's my sin?_

They'd swapped positions almost seamlessly, Minori now with her back against the sink and microwave while one of Aiko's hands trapped her there by bracing against the sink, the other holding onto Minori's hand as she pulled it closer to herself.

_Never quit - I follow through_ _  
_ _I hate mess - but I love you_ _  
_ _What to do_ _  
_ _With my impromptu baby_

Still holding Minori's hand in hers, Aiko reached over to caress Minori's hip with her other hand. Minori scoffed and shook her hand out of Aiko's.

_So be wise_ _  
_ _'Cuz this girl satisfies_ _  
_ _You've got a prize_ _  
_ _Who don't compromise_ _  
_ _You're one lucky baby_

Aiko turned away to face their now rapt audience, holding her arms out as she began to sing.

_Take me for what I am_ _  
_

"A control freak," Minori interjected.

 _Who I was meant to be_ __  
  
"A snob - yet over-attentive."

_And if you give a damn_ _  
_

Aiko turned and pointed at Minori as she sang that line.

"A lovable, droll geek," Minori said, rolling her eyes.

_Take me baby or leave me_ _  
_

"And anal retentive!" Minori yelled, before joining in to sing together with Aiko.

 _That's it!_ __  
  
Minori continued glaring while Aiko sang the next line.

_The straw that breaks my back_

_I quit_

They harmonized effortlessly again, fighting not to grin when they were both having so much fun.

_Unless you take it back_ _  
_

Aiko sang that line, her head tipped back as her fingertips brushed the countertop.

_Women_

Minori joined in, then sang the next line alone, clenching her hands into fists on the counter. _  
_

_What is it about them?_

For the last part of the song, they sang it together, glaring at each other from opposite sides of the counter. _  
_  
 _Can't live -_ _  
_ _With them -_ _  
_ _Or without them!_ _  
_ _Take me for what I am_ _  
_ _Who I was meant to be_ _  
_ _And if you give a damn_ _  
_ _Take me baby or leave me_ _  
_ _Take me baby_ _  
_ _Or leave me_

When the high note ended, both of them turned away from each other, throwing a hand out dismissively.

"Guess I'm leavin'; I'm gone!" they said in unison as the song ended to raucous applause from the others in the bus. Even Shoko had come to watch the girls sing.

A second later, Minori and Aiko had turned towards each other, arms around each other's shoulders.

"No way, you know Rent?" Aiko giggled.

"Of course, Rent is an icon! I played Maureen in one of my high school productions," Minori shared.

"No way! Maureen is my spirit animal," Aiko enthused, placing special emphasis on the last two words.

And with that, the two girls were off, discussing Rent and other musicals together. They didn't even move very much from the spot where they'd ended up, sitting in the front area of the bus and completely ignoring the boys, who'd gone back to their disgusting food game.

"Aren't you jealous?" Kumiko asked Hanae a few hours later, when Aiko still hadn't come back to her.

"Jealous? Why?" Hanae asked, her expression completely serene.

Kumiko giggled, thinking Hanae was playing a game with her. "You know, because Aiko's abandoned you for Minori," she said, pouting playfully at Hanae.

Hanae laughed. "Just because Aiko and Minori are chatting about musical theatre doesn't mean Aiko's abandoned me. We'll always be together," she said, patting her chest.

That statement, said so easily, gave Kumiko pause. "Huh," she said. "That's… really beautiful."

And slightly creepy to be thinking about your best friend, she thought but didn't say. Then again, Aiko and Hanae had the most co-dependent relationship she'd ever seen. They finished each other's sentences, seemed to communicate telepathically, and were literally always together. Was it possible…?

As soon as the thought came to her mind, Kumiko dismissed it. No way, she thought. Not with the way the two of them constantly draped themselves over Fuwa Sho, falling all over themselves to attend to his every need and stroke his ego like the ultimate sycophants.

As if to taunt Kumiko further, Aiko and Minori returned to the back of the bus then, and Aiko immediately sat right next to Hanae, throwing her legs over Hanae's lap and her arm around the other girl's shoulders. Almost automatically, Hanae's hand went to Aiko's back, giving her support even while they both seemed to luxuriate in the physical contact.

Minori looked at them together, wondering if they were even aware of their feelings for each other. It was so obvious to her what was happening between them. She knew they presented themselves to the world as best friends, but she was convinced that there was something else actually happening between them just from the way they looked at each other.

She knew there were good reasons for them to stifle their true feelings for each other – Japan was still a conservative country, after all, and even if they were in showbiz which tended to be more liberal, issues like this were still not really talked about, and she could only imagine that their friends and family outside of showbiz would be… critical, to say the least.

Still, she truly did hope for the best for them if she was right. Everyone deserved love, and if she was being honest, she thought that all the moral hang-ups over homosexuality were ridiculous, to say the least. What did it matter who the person you loved was, as long as you loved them and they loved you back? Why mar something so pure and beautiful with recrimination and hatred? Why make people feel like less for their love, when love was a goal that everyone strove towards? It was all so pointless and ugly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song creds: Take Me or Leave Me from Rent.


	17. Chapter 17

"Oh my God," Aiko breathed, sitting up from her reclining position on her bed. She'd been browsing the Internet while laying there, resting after their show.

Hanae looked at Aiko's reflection in the mirror. She was sitting at the table, going through her nightly skincare routine. "What is it?" she asked.

Aiko stood up, shocked. "Oh, my God," she repeated, and walked over to show Hanae what she was looking at.

Curious, Hanae angled her head to look at the phone that Aiko had thrust in her face, and she realized why Aiko was so excited.

"Oh, my God!" she squealed, standing up so quickly the chair she was sitting on toppled over onto the floor. She hugged Aiko tightly. "This is amazing!"

Aiko looked down at the phone in her hand again, then ran her hand through her hair. "Oh, my God! I… I have to practice and record a tape to send in!"

Hanae smiled. "I'm so happy for you!"

They looked back at the phone screen. It was a casting call for a Japanese remake of Les Misérables. Aiko had dreamed of playing Eponine since she'd heard the soundtrack as a child, and that desire had only intensified when she discovered Youtube videos of the musical, and then the movie had come out and Samantha Barks had changed her life.

"Oh, this is so exciting," she said in a trembling voice, clutching her phone to her chest. This was a chance to play the role of her dreams. She had to get it; failure was not an option. Chances like this came once in a lifetime.

Hanae smiled at her. "You'll get it, I know you will," she reassured her best friend.

"God… I'm on tour, though. Who do I ask to play the accompaniment for me? What should I sing? Where will I record?" Aiko fretted, thinking about all the logistics that would surely be a nightmare since she didn't have access to all the facilities she would in Tokyo, although to be fair, if she was in Tokyo she wouldn't need all of those in the first place because she could have just gone to the audition.

Hanae picked up the chair and sat back down to continue patting products into her skin. Picking up an eye cream, she shrugged as she dipped her finger into the pot. "Ask Minori," she said. "She has some musical theatre knowledge, right? She could help you out."

"Oh, yeah…" Aiko went back to her bed and pulled the covers over her legs as she leaned back against her pillows. "I'll have to sing On My Own, of course."

"Of course," Hanae echoed, nodding firmly.

* * *

"Of course I'll help you with the audition tape!" Minori said exuberantly when Aiko asked her the next morning over breakfast. "What were you thinking of singing?"

"On My Own, of course!" Aiko exclaimed, wondering if that question was even necessary. How could she sing anything else for an audition for Eponine?

"Hmm, are you sure?" Minori asked, frowning into her miso soup.

"Why not?" Aiko asked, her brow creasing slightly.

"Well, how many times do you think the directors will have to listen to that song? Maybe you should sing something different for your audition to get their attention; show them that you can put your own spin on Eponine. They'll probably have you sing On My Own during the callback anyway."

Aiko put down her bowl of rice thoughtfully. Minori had a point – it was likely that almost every girl auditioning for the part would be singing that, if not another song of Eponine's, although On My Own was by far the most iconic.

"What should I sing then?" she asked.

"Well, there are plenty of songs from Broadway that convey the same meaning to choose from, if you want to focus on the unrequited love aspect of the character – there's My Man, from Funny Girl; you could go with Satisfied, from Hamilton? But I feel like you should choose a song that you personally have an emotional connection to, so you can convey the feelings in your performance.

"Eponine is quite a complex and tragic character, right? And everyone who's played her has done it differently. What do you want your Eponine to be like? Maybe you can start from there and then pick a song that lets you convey your Eponine."

Minori shrugged and used her chopsticks to pick at the bits of flesh left on her saba fish. "It's really up to you in the end, and no matter what you choose I'll help you with it. I just feel like since there's going to be so many girls auditioning you need to do something that really makes you stand out, you know? Les Mis has been done so many times, in so many different countries, by so many different casts, that they're going to be looking to put their own stamp on it."

"Hmm," Aiko considered that as she picked up her bowl of miso soup. She sipped it slowly as she thought about the kind of Eponine she wanted to portray.

Minori, meanwhile, quickly finished the last of her food and stood up. "I have to go pack; we're leaving soon. See you later, okay?"

* * *

She was almost done packing when her hotel room telephone started ringing. She jumped in surprise at the unexpected intrusion, and hurried to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Minori-chan? Oh, thank God. Can you go and wake Sho up?"

Confused, it took Minori a moment to piece everything together. "Aki-san?" she asked.

"Yes, yes," Shoko sounded a little breathless. "Sho isn't picking up my calls, and I have some last-minute work to settle before we leave. Can you go see if he's awake?"

Minori hesitated. That really seemed like overstepping her bounds. "Um… are you sure it wouldn't be inappropriate?"

Shoko laughed. "No, dear. You can bring your luggage to my room when you come to collect Sho's key. The concierge will be bringing my luggage down."

Minori was still reluctant, but it seemed that she had no choice. She acquiesced and finished getting ready, texting Kumiko to let her know what had happened and not to wait for her.

Bringing her bag with her, she went to Shoko's room and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" Shoko trilled from behind the door, coming to open it. She was still in her robe with her hair in disarray and a becoming flush on her face. She smiled at Minori, a little too widely. "Here," she said breathlessly, thrusting the key at Minori.

Minori gave her a slow smile. "Here's my bag," she said, rolling it in front of her and giving it a little kick to send it into the room. "Have fun with your… work," she said with a wink.

Shoko blushed. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

Minori walked away, grinning to herself. She knew the look on Shoko's face from the one unfortunate incident where she'd dropped by Kyoko's apartment unexpectedly and found her and Kuon wearing almost identical expressions. If there wasn't a man in Shoko's room, she would eat her hat. It also explained why Shoko was suddenly too busy to look after Sho, but she figured the woman had enough on her plate being his full-time caretaker. If she needed a break, Minori was more than willing to help out.

She walked down the hall to Sho's room and knocked loudly, just in case he was still asleep. "Fuwa-san?" she called. No response. She tried again, louder, but she was worried that she would disturb other residents.

Sighing, she used the key card and entered the room. "Fuwa-san?" she said again as she closed the door behind her and toed off her shoes. Walking further into the room, she marveled for a moment at how large it was compared to the one she was sharing with Kumiko, then sighed as she found him sprawled across the king-size bed.

"Fuwa-san?" she tried again, walking closer to the bed. He barely stirred.

"Fuwa-san?" she shook him gently, leaning over him. She was beginning to think he was dead when he groaned and pulled her down to him. She squeaked as she lost her balance and fell on him, and then again when he rolled so that she was trapped under him.

"Shoko, stop waking me up for nothing," he groaned.

She pushed at his chest, but in her position with her hands all but trapped by her sides, she couldn't get the leverage to push him off. "Get off me, dammit!" she cried, starting to panic. "I'm not Aki-san!"

That seemed to snap Sho out of his stupor, and he lifted himself up onto his arms. "Hamasaki-san? What are you doing here?" he grouched as he tumbled back onto the bed next to her.

She sat up hastily, then got off the bed and stood up. "Um, Aki-san sent me here to wake you up. She said she had some, uh…" she hesitated, not sure if Sho knew. In the end, she went with Shoko's excuse. "She had some work to do, and couldn't come make sure you were awake. The woman knows you pretty well," she said drolly.

"Last minute work? Oh, right. She's from this town, I forgot." He rolled over, clearly intending to go back to sleep.

Minori huffed in irritation and pulled the blanket away from him. "Come on, you need to get up! We're leaving soon, and you aren't even packed yet."

He whined and curled up into a ball, reaching behind him and pawing for the duvet. "Stop it, you sound just like Shoko."

She frowned, crawling back onto the bed to poke at him. "Get up! We're leaving in half an hour!"

He turned and pulled her into his arms, tugging so that she lost her balance and fell on top of me. "Take a nap with me," he said suggestively.

She squirmed away. "Stop it! That may work on Aki-san, but it won't work on me." She twisted so that both feet were resting on his back and gave him a good kick so that he almost tumbled off the bed.

"Go take a shower," she instructed while he flailed. "Do you need any help packing up?"

He sulked, but did get up to go to the bathroom. While he showered, he thought about Minori. Some part of him was shocked that she had come to wake him up – Shoko had never tried anything like that before, and he wondered what she was trying to pull now. He knew she'd spent the night with an old flame; every time they came back here she hooked up with him. He'd asked her once why she didn't just pursue a relationship with him, but she'd given him an evasive answer about how she was too busy with work. He'd read between the lines to understand that she wasn't willing to up and move away from Tokyo for anyone, and the man couldn't, or wouldn't, move to Tokyo for her. It was really none of his business, but he liked to think of Shoko as a friend and mentor as much as she was his manager, and he cared about her, and hoped she found her happiness.

Still, for her to send a backup performer to come wake him up was highly unusual, but what was even stranger was Minori's reaction to him – or lack thereof. He'd never met a girl who seemed to immune to his charms – even Kyoko, before the incident, had been putty in his hands, and while he and Shoko had an understanding that they were not going to do anything stupid, she was indulgent of his flirtatious behavior. He'd never met a girl who didn't blush and simper, especially when she was in his bed, shirtless.

He turned off the water and wrapped a towel around himself. Maybe there was something about Minori, after all. She seemed to be made of sterner stuff than most girls he'd known.


	18. Chapter 18

While Sho was in the bathroom, Minori started packing his bags. It was demeaning, and she felt like a chambermaid instead of one of his staff, but if it got them on the road in time, she supposed someone had to do it. She heard him singing over the shower as it started up and she shook her head fondly. As irritating and childish as he could be sometimes, she had to admit that he was an undeniably talented singer.

She rolled her eyes as she packed his assorted jewelry back into what she assumed was its rightful home. Who travelled with so much jewelry anyway? It wasn't even part of his costume – this was all just stuff he wore on a daily basis. She counted twelve rings, six necklaces and upwards of twenty earrings (they weren't all pairs since he had three piercings on one ear and just one on the other) just lying around the room, not including the stuff that was still in the jewelry case.

She went to the closet to pull out all the clothing he'd hung up, and the garment bag those clothes fit into. She was just zipping the garment bag up after putting the clothing that needed to be ironed when she heard the shower, and his singing, stop. When she lifted the garment bag to shake it down so that the clothing inside didn't stick to each other and crease, she heard the bathroom door open.

"That was quick," she commented, turning to face Sho… who was standing in front of her wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. There was a beat of silence, then…

"Oh, my God!" she screamed, whipping around to give him some privacy. "Put some clothes on!"

He rolled his eyes. "What do you think I came out here to do?" he snapped. Then he thought about her reaction. He was pretty sure that she'd been checking him out for a moment there before she'd reacted. Eager to test his theory, he came closer to her, putting his hand on her arm. "Thanks for helping me pack," he said.

Surprised, she started to turn around… and he saw her gaze drop to his abs for a moment before her face flared crimson. Turning away and jerking her arm away from him, she didn't see his lips quirk up slightly in a smug grin. It seemed that even Hamasaki Minori wasn't immune to his charms.

His curiosity and ego satisfied for the moment, he turned back to his luggage and dug out a T-shirt and jeans. Turning away from her, he dropped the towel and dressed himself quickly. "You know, you don't have to be so uptight," he told her, pulling the shirt over his head. "You're not the only girl I've caught checking me out. Hell, even Kyoko used to do it sometimes. I always had to surprise her, though. She never stayed if she knew I was changing."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," she said stiffly. "In any case, since I'm basically your employee, it's incredibly unprofessional for me to be here in your room. Since I've done what Aki-san asked me to do, I'll be leaving now." She placed the garment bag back onto the bed, then made her escape, walking briskly past him and out the door.

The moment the door shut, Minori sagged against the wall beside it. It was too easy to get drawn into Fuwa Sho. Kyoko had described it as a black hole that sucked girls in, and as confident as Minori had been earlier about how she was just going to dance and would ignore Sho, it was possible that she'd overestimated herself.

She shut her eyes in despair, but she could still see Sho's abs in her mind. It was like they were painted onto the back of her eyelids.

"Oh, Jesus," she whispered, forcing herself up and off the wall as she walked shakily to the elevator, to go down to the lobby to wait for the bus. She had to remind herself forcefully that getting involved with Sho was a bad idea, regardless of how good the man looked without his shirt on.

Other than the fact that he was a horrible person who had taken advantage of Kyoko, there was the fact that he was one of the most famous men in Japan, that he was basically her boss, and that she had other things to focus on besides hooking up with a singer. Besides, she cringed to think of what he would say when he found out that she was a virgin.

It wasn't really out of any outdated moral construct about saving it for marriage or the fabricated value of a woman's virginity; it was just that back in high school she hadn't much time on her hands to date, what with keeping her grades up and joining a number of clubs to try and get a scholarship for university, her part-time job, and the whole social pariah thing. And in Tokyo it wasn't like law school left her much free time either.

Besides, given what had happened to her mother it hardly seemed unreasonable for her to be a little cautious when it came to physical intimacy.

She sat down in an armchair in the lobby, pulling her Kindle out of her backpack. She had to distract herself; getting involved with someone as toxic as Fuwa Sho was definitely not what she needed in her life, regardless of how much more mature he seemed now.

Sitting in the lobby facing the elevators, she had a perfect view of Shoko walking out of the elevator, perfectly coiffed as usual, her arm linked with a man's. She raised a brow at the two of them, smirking slightly when Shoko turned a little red and cleared her throat as she dropped her arm to her side.

"Minori-chan, how are you?" she asked, smiling with just a little too much teeth to look real. Her companion took the hint, kissed her on the cheek and left.

"I'm good," she said, watching the man go. "The question is, how are you? How was your night?" she asked mischievously. She knew very well how her night had gone. It was written all over her face.

Avoiding the question, Shoko just waved a hand dismissively as she turned to instruct the bellboy pushing the luggage cart to send their luggage outside so that the bus driver could load it. Once that was done, she took a seat in the chair next to Minori.

"The question is, how was Sho?" she asked, leaning over the armrest.

Minori coughed, immediately getting flustered. Shoko cheered internally; she knew what that meant.

"Um, nothing," she said, looking down at her hands, which she was wringing in her lap. She looked up at Shoko and started a little at the knowing smirk Shoko was looking her way.

"Uh-huh," Shoko said, and she felt like Shoko could see right through her.

(She could, of course.)

She was saved from more uncomfortable questions when most of the others came down together. She hastily got up to join the rest of them as they were wheeling their luggage out to the bus, leaving Shoko there smug about what she'd managed to discern, but still curious about what had actually happened.

"Hey, where did you run off to?" Kumiko asked her when she joined them. "Your text was so vague."

"Oh, Aki-san just asked me to help her out with some stuff. Couldn't say no, you know," she said, shrugging. "After all, she's the boss."

Kumiko accepted the response, and Aiko and Hanae each linked their arms with one of hers next.

"Oh, hello," she said, surprised. The two of them had never been so chummy with her before. In fact, they'd kind of existed in an uneasy truce ever since they found out that she was from the same hometown as Sho, and that hadn't really changed until she sang with Aiko in the bus the other day.

"So, I was thinking about my Eponine," Aiko said without any preamble. "And I think I want to portray her sad and cynical. She's lost a lot in her life, and she knows that her love is doomed from the start. Not just because of Cosette, but because society will never accept it. She's anguished because she knows that she shouldn't love Marius, but she can't help it."

Minori wondered if the inspiration for her Eponine was drawn from her relationship with Hanae. It wasn't her place to judge, and she couldn't really say for sure whether there truly was something going on between the two of them, but sometimes it sure looked like there were.

"Okay," she accepted, not voicing her thoughts. "Have you thought about what song you want to sing?"

"Well, for my Eponine I thought that My Man would be a good representation, but Hanae said it might not be a good idea for me to audition for one epic musical using a song from another."

Hanae jumped in. "How about some pop songs, like Beautiful Trauma? It would really show off your vocal range."

"Isn't Beautiful Trauma about how difficult it is to stay in a long-term relationship? That's a little different from the feeling I'm trying to convey."

And the two of them were off, discussing song choices while all but ignoring Minori, who was still trapped between them. She didn't really mind – she thought it was rather adorable, in fact, that Hanae seemed as invested in the adution as Aiko. You would have thought the both of them were auditioning, with how thoroughly Hanae had thrown herself into the task of finding the perfect audition song for Aiko, bar the obvious choice of On My Own.

Shoko watched them as Sho walked up beside her. "What's happening between them?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Hell if I know," he said nonchalantly.

Shoko let out a dry laugh. "Right," she said. "When have you ever cared about what's happening between others if it doesn't involve you?" The words, though hurtful, had no bite to them. Shoko had long accepted that Sho was this way, and Sho knew there was no judgement from her when she said things like that. He just hummed in response.

"So what happened earlier?" Shoko asked curiously, thinking of how flustered Minori had been when she'd asked her about it.

"Nothing," he said. "She just saw me in a towel, is all."

"Really?" Shoko said, fascinated by the news. It seemed that Minori wasn't immune to Sho's charms. She knew the feeling – he might be a child on the inside, but he sure as hell didn't look like one on the outside.

"Well, what did you expect?" he almost whined. "You know I'm not used to changing in the bathroom after I shower. I hate how the humidity of the bathroom makes my clothes stick to me."

"Of course, sweetie," she said placatingly. "No one is saying it's your fault."

On the contrary – it had worked exactly as planned.

When Shoko went to check them out of the hotel, Sho walked out to where the crew was gathered in front of the bus. "Good morning," he greeted everyone, but he was looking at Minori.

"Good morning, Fuwa-san," she greeted stiffly. "Good to see you," she said.  _With a shirt on_ , she mentally added. She had to stop herself from giving him a blatant once-over now that she knew what was lurking under that T-shirt and leather jacket. He'd added a chain around his neck and various rings and earrings to the ensemble she'd witnessed him putting on earlier.

He smiled slowly at her. She shifted uncomfortably, fiddling with the neckline on her blouse. Thankfully, the bus door opened then and Minori all but fled to the back of the bus, where she was sure she would have some solace from Fuwa Sho and his annoying good looks.


	19. Chapter 19

Sho was getting lonely.

He wasn't sure what had happened, but for the past few days he'd barely seen Aiko and Hanae at all, and when he did, they were discussing something with Minori. He wondered idly what it was, but figured it probably wasn't important. Maybe they were bonding over lipstick. Or maybe they had accepted Minori into their fold once he'd converted her to be one of his fans.

It was confusing, then, that the three of them seemed to have disappeared entirely. Aiko and Hanae hadn't come to his room to look for him the past two cities they'd stayed in, and the three of them hadn't even gone to eat with the rest of the crew. Instead, the others would buy food back for them. He wondered what they were up to, but wasn't interested enough to ask the others.

Since Shoko was, at this moment, in the lobby doing some work or other, Sho was all alone in his room, and he was bored. There was nowhere for him to go in this town, and besides, they were expected to be at the stadium to start setting up in one and a half hours, which didn't leave much time for him to explore.

He decided to spend some time in the music room – this was one of the inns they'd stayed at that had one. He grabbed his guitar and headed down, intending to spend a few blissful hours alone with his music.

Sadly, it was not to be. When he got to the music room, he saw the three girls he'd just been thinking of inside, Minori seated at the piano while both Aiko and Hanae stood by it, elbows resting on it.

Irritated, he burst into the room, and the sound of Aiko singing while Minori played the piano died down immediately. "I want to use this room, get out," he huffed.

Aiko and Hanae looked at each other in a panic, then looked at Minori. Neither of them could go against Sho, not without angering the most influential man in the music industry, and yet they'd just found a song and didn't have much more time to practice it before they had to record the audition video to send it in by the deadline.

"Um, Sho-kun…" Aiko started, starting to walk towards Sho with Hanae. He glared at her, and she subsided. "Okay, let's go," she said meekly, and Sho cheered mentally at the triumph.

It was, however, not to be. Minori got up and walked towards Sho silently, pushing him out the door before she followed. Right before the door shut, she turned and told Aiko and Hanae to keep practicing if they wanted.

"What are you doing?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth when she turned back towards him, the door shut behind her. Her arms were crossed and her foot tapping in a way that reminded him of angry schoolteachers.

"I wanted to write music," he said. "That's more important than whatever games you girls were playing inside just now," he said condescendingly. Didn't she know that his music was appreciated all over Japan? It was important that he have a good environment to write more, for the Japanese public!

Minori looked furious. She dropped her arms to her side, fists clenched. "Aiko is practicing for an audition! You need to chill out and find somewhere else to write your music. Why can't you do it in your own room? You can play your guitar there; it's not like it's an instrument that's stuck to one location!"

"An audition? Why would she need one? She's on tour!"

Minori rolled her eyes. "Yes, and is it so unthinkable that she has more ambitious goals than being your backup singer indefinitely? She's auditioning for the remake of Les Mis."

"And why are you there?"

"I'm playing the piano accompaniment to the audition song."

"Wait, why do you even care about Aiko's audition? Since when are you two friends?"

Minori shrugged. "Gotta respect a girl with goals. She has good hustle. Now please go, and do your own thing for a bit, okay? Your sycophants will be back with you soon."

Reluctantly, sulkily, he obliged, and Minori went back to the room, where Aiko and Hanae were hovering around the piano anxiously.

"Okay, where were we? Aiko-san, would you like to start from the top?"

The two girls goggled at her. "What did you say to him?"

"Um…" Minori, hesitating, leaned against the door, surprised by their reaction. "I just told him that you're practicing for an audition, and asked him to let us use the room for a while. He's going back to his room."

Aiko and Hanae looked at each other, aghast. "You can't tell Sho-kun he can't have something! He'll be so mad at us!"

Minori raised a brow. "I think you'll survive."

"You don't understand! It's difficult enough trying to make it in this industry without Fuwa Sho being against you! Why do you think we try so hard to make him happy?"

Minori was floored. "Wait, what? I thought you were his fangirls and loved him and all that jazz!"

Hanae rolled her eyes. "If we were both in love with him and wanted to be Mrs Fuwa Sho, how could we still be friends? Haven't you seen all the other girls who chase him at each other's throats? In the end there can only be one girl who wins his heart, and if we both wanted it we couldn't be friends anymore."

"Huh." Minori put her hands in the pockets of her jeans and rocked back on her heels. She'd never thought of it that way before, just assuming that they were fangirls like the ones she saw on TV, screaming and crying whenever they saw Fuwa Sho. "Well, I'll go and check on him again later, if it makes you feel better," she offered.

Hanae and Aiko still looked dubious, but since that was the best solution and Aiko really did need to get back to practicing, they accepted it, and Minori went back to the piano.

* * *

Strumming his guitar aimlessly in his room, Sho's thoughts drifted, as they occasionally had in the past and more recently did now that a physical reminder was in his life, to Kyoko.

He knew he'd been awful to her. He'd always known, even when he was using her back when they were fifteen, that what he was doing was selfish and wrong. It's just that he hadn't cared until recently, when Minori forced him to see that it was, in fact, his fault for pushing her away.

The truth was, he'd always loved her. And because of that, he'd somehow assumed that she would always stay with him, until he was done with whatever he needed to do. It had been his perverted way of testing her devotion to him – how far could he push her before she snapped?

Okay, so maybe he had a problem expressing his emotions in a healthy manner.

He wondered what she was doing right now. She was probably with that bastard Tsuruga right now, talking about fairytales or the like. He wondered if she and Tsuruga had ever slept together, torturing himself with images of the two of them together. Then again, he figured, it was Kyoko. She seemed so frigid and uptight that he was sure she ran screaming from the room if he ever kissed her.

He sighed as he set his guitar aside, picking up the notepad where he jotted down all his lyrics. Maybe it was time to try to win Kyoko back. In the end, she was the one who understood him best, and maybe now he could treat her the way she deserved to be treated.

* * *

An hour later, Aiko decided to take a break since they had to get ready to go to the stadium for their performance, and Minori decided to visit Sho to see how he was doing, and to apologize on behalf of the two of them if she'd offended him. She personally didn't really care much if Sho was offended by something like her telling him that he couldn't use the room because others were using it, but she could see why the two girls were concerned.

She knocked on Sho's door, then straightened her jacket, fiddled with her hair… anything to distract from how incredibly awkward this was. They hadn't been alone together since she'd gone to wake him up a few days ago, which hadn't been an accident. She'd been intentionally avoiding him because she couldn't stop thinking about that moment and it was driving her insane. She didn't think she'd ever been this horny.

"Who is it?" Sho asked irritably when he heard the knock. He was starting to write a song, and hated to be disturbed.

"Um, it's Minori," the response came, slightly muffled because the doors were rather thick.

He sighed, but got up to let her in anyway. "What do you want?" He went back to his bed, where he'd left his guitar and notepad.

She stood in the doorway, hesitating. "I'm sorry for saying all those things to you earlier. That was out of line," she said insincerely.

He looked up at her, surprised. "You don't seriously believe that, do you?" he said.

She shrugged, walking into the room. "Does it matter? Aiko-san and Hanae-san thought you might be upset with them because of what happened, so I came to apologize. If you're mad at anyone, be mad at me for what I said, but don't be mad at them for using the room."

He just stared at her. "Sometimes you're so much like her…" he murmured to himself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that?" She walked a little closer.

He seemed to snap out of his reverie. "It's nothing." He looked back down at his notepad, then at her. "Hey, do you think Kyoko and that Tsuruga bastard are happy together?"

Confused, she furrowed her brow, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Um, yeah, Kyoko-senpai and Kuon-san are like, madly in love. Incandescently happy," she said, thinking about how downright sappy they could be. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he said evasively, avoiding eye contact with her.

Suspicious, she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. "Come on, you aren't still thinking about them, are you? Why are they on your mind so much?"

He looked embarrassed and shrugged. Even though they didn't know each other that well, he thought she might be one of the only people who knew the whole story, and would be able to see it from his point of view.

"Well, I always thought that Kyoko and I would end up together. She's always been the most understanding of me, and for a lot of my childhood she was in my corner no matter what, you know? It'll be nice to have that back."

Minori sighed and shuffled a little closer, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I can see why you would think that way," she admitted. "But she's happy with Kuon-san now, and if you really love her you have to respect that. I'm glad you see that you were wrong, and you realise how lucky you were to have her for that long, but in the end it doesn't change much. Not after this much time."

He looked up at her stubbornly. "No, there has to be a way to win her back!"

"Do you really think so? After all that's happened between the two of you, the bad blood, and the time you've spent apart, that you can just go back to being the way you used to be when you were children? Really, I see that you've grown and changed a lot from the last time I saw you, and if you'd been like this when you were fifteen, maybe you would still be together. But life doesn't work that way."

He sulked, and tossed his pencil into a far corner of the room. "I don't want to hear that from you!" he growled.

"So who do you want to hear it from? Should I call Kyoko-senpai and have her tell you herself that she wants to be with Kuon-san and not you? Who will you believe?"

He lay back down on his bed in a huff, and she sighed as she stroked his hair. She knew she shouldn't, but being this close to him and knowing how upset he was she couldn't help trying to comfort him. "It's not so bad," she said, trying to be optimistic. "You like your life the way it is, don't you? Don't spend so much time thinking about what could have been, and focus on your future, y'know? That's what you can still change now."

He leaned into her touch and rested his head on her lap. "Maybe," he admitted grudgingly.

She smiled down at him and patted his cheek. "That's the spirit. Now come on, we have to get to the stadium or we're going to be late."


	20. Chapter 20

It was in Aomori that Aiko recorded her audition tape for Eponine. The hotel they were at didn't have a music room, so instead they'd called ahead to rent a small music room for ninety minutes, and before they were supposed to fly to Sapporo, went to the music room to record the tape. Hanae went along, because the two were inseparable and Hanae had volunteered to do the recording.

After Aiko ran through her vocal warmups while Hanae fiddled with setting up the camera and tripod, they were ready. Hanae counted down from five as Aiko took a deep breath, then when Hanae pressed record on the camera, Minori started playing.

Aiko took a deep breath, locked eyes with Hanae behind the camera, and started singing.

 _Strumming my pain with his fingers_  
Singing my life with his words  
Killing me softly with his song  
Killing me softly with his song  
Telling my whole life with his words  
Killing me softly with his song

She swallowed against the emotion that filled her and went on to the next verse, her voice quavering slightly.

 _I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style_  
And so I came to see him, to listen for a while  
And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes

 _Strumming my pain with his fingers_  
Singing my life with his words  
Killing me softly with his song  
Killing me softly with his song  
Telling my whole life with his words  
Killing me softly with his song

She blinked back tears and caught her breath during the small pause, and Minori looked over in concern.

 _I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd_  
I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud  
I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on

She held the high note for a few seconds as Minori stopped playing, letting the piano accompaniment die down so that her voice took center stage. Hanae gave her a small sad smile, trying to be encouraging even though she felt Aiko's pain – or maybe it was her own.

 _Strumming my pain with his fingers_  
Singing my life with his words  
Killing me softly with his song  
Killing me softly with his song  
Telling my whole life with his words  
Killing me softly

Approaching the last verse, Aiko clenched her fists and looked up slightly, tearily, though she didn't let it affect her singing.

 _Strumming my pain with his fingers_  
Singing my life with his words  
Killing me softly with his song  
Killing me softly with his song  
Telling my whole life with his words  
Killing me softly, with his words

As the last, quiet bits of the song died down, it seemed like Aiko snapped out of whatever trance she was in. She took a deep, shuddering breath, then let it out slowly as her posture relaxed.

"Aiko, that was really great," Hanae breathed, reluctant to break the silence that the room had fallen into. "Do you want to hear it?"

When Aiko nodded, she beckoned the other girl over and pressed play on the recording. Minori wondered if they realised that they'd started holding hands while watching the video in the little screen on the camera. Listening to it again, she had to admit that it really was a good recording; Aiko was very talented, and the way her voice trembled and quavered while still belting out the lyrics strongly showed the depth of the pain of her unrequited love. It was all very Eponine.

Minori wondered if either, or both, of them were aware that Aiko's Eponine was dependent on Hanae; that when Aiko sang or acted as Eponine it was influenced by how she felt about her.

It was probably presumptuous of her to make such assumptions, but seeing the raw, painful look in Aiko's eyes as she looked at the other girl while singing, and the way Hanae had stared back, entranced, herself almost destroyed, Minori felt justified in her deductions.

They decided to do one more take, just in case, and left, heading straight to the airport to meet the others. Because Sho was so famous (and also quite a brat), Akatoki had decided to send him a private jet for the short flight, and while Sho and Shoko were used to it, most of the crew had never been in a private jet before (and Minori had never flown before), so they were all rather excited.

It was a short flight, but that didn't stop Sho from making himself comfortable as he sprawled across a couch, reading a magazine. "Sho-kun," Hanae whined as the two girls perched on the edge of the couch, trying to gain his attention. Minori was surprised and quite frankly, impressed at the way they could go from incredibly talented, ambitious women to simpering fangirls at the drop of a hat.

She was supposed to be reading – she had her Kindle out – but she couldn't help but watch the way Sho interacted with Aiko and Hanae. She wondered if he realised that he was being manipulated, and rather impressively too. Now that she was aware of it, she could see the way Aiko and Hanae, even as they leaned over Sho, had linked hands, the secret glances they shot each other over his head.

She popped a piece of strawberry chocolate in her mouth, and shook the box in front of Seiichi to offer him one. When he accepted, she leaned closer to him.

"Results are coming out in a few days," she reminded him.

He nodded; not saying anything. She could see the tightening of his jaw but didn't mention it; it could have been that he was sucking on the piece of chocolate in his mouth, although she didn't think it was likely.

She leaned in closer still, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Wanna check them together?" she asked.

He nodded again, and she squeezed his arm affectionately. She'd deduced that for whatever reason, he seemed anxious about his grades and didn't want to talk about his experiences at Tokyo University, especially when it came to his classes. Which was strange since although she'd chosen law not because she was interested in it but because it would guarantee her a good living and a way to support her mother, she still rather enjoyed her classes and would happily talk about the nuances of jurisprudence and criminal law.

Whatever it was, she figured Seiichi could use some support when he checked his grades. It just so happened that they were coming out on the Friday of the weekend that they were spending at Otaru, and either way she would have some free time to spend with Seiichi. When he smiled back at her, she patted him on the head before withdrawing to go back to her Kindle, although the two continued leaning against each other companionably.

Sho watched the two of them jealously, although he knew there was no good reason for him to be jealous. He wasn't with Minori, or even wanted to be with her. She could drape herself all over whomever she liked; it was none of his business.

He justified it by telling himself that she was Kyoko's friend – and, based on what he'd seen that day Kyoko had interrupted their rehearsals – Kyoko seemed to be a bit of a mother hen when it came to the younger girl. She probably held the girl to the same ridiculous standards of chastity that she held herself to (Sho refused to believe that she was sleeping with Tsuruga Ren) and would be appalled to find out that Minori was acting so familiarly with other men.

Well, that was what he was telling himself, at least. That he was just looking out for her because Kyoko had, implicitly, asked him to take care of her and ensure that harm didn't come her way. Still, he knew that storming over to demand that they sit further apart would only look weird and it didn't go with his cool image, so he just flipped a page in his magazine moodily, almost tearing the page.

When the next page of the magazine was a full-page picture of Kyoko and Ren together, with the title "Relationship secrets! Kyoko and Kuon spill all!" Sho snarled and ripped the magazine in half, tossing both sides onto the floor sulkily.

"Sho-kun, are you all right?" Aiko asked in response to his outburst, leaning closer to him and draping an arm over his shoulder to hug him slightly. Hanae did the same thing on the other side.

He shook them off, scowling. "Leave me alone!" he snapped.

Aiko and Hanae whined a little more, but went to sit near the back of the plane, heads together as they chatted.

Kumiko, sitting on Minori's other side, leaned in to ask what she thought was wrong with the star.

"God knows," Minori said, shrugging. "Probably some tortured artist problem." She had a pretty good idea, though, having sat through Kyoko's excited recounting of the first interview she and Kuon had done together a few weeks ago.

Sho sulked for the rest of the short flight, and was the first to disembark. While the rest of the crew made their way to the hotel, Sho disappeared somewhere, probably to get drunk by himself. Shoko sighed, not sure if she should track him down or just leave him to his own devices. As much as she appreciated his efforts to start taking his career seriously, he could be maddeningly inconsistent. Still, she supposed she should just count her blessings that he hadn't performed drunk this summer. She hoped his streak continued – it really was a hassle when he was drunk at inappropriate times.

Since there wasn't a performance until tomorrow night, they had some free time, and Minori thought it would be a good time to catch up with her friends from Tokyo. She needed some advice and someone to talk to, and since she figured Kyoko wouldn't be much help in this respect, the only other person who knew everything and could offer realistic advice was Kanae.

Once they got to their rooms, Kumiko dumped her stuff then immediately went to join the boys, while Minori stayed in the room, promising to join them later. She just had to make a phone call first.

"Hello? Kotonami-san?"

"Minori-chan? How's everything going? I heard from Kyoko that you're really living it up travelling all over Japan!"

"Oh, I don't know if eating a lot of street food and takeout in my room between rehearsals can really be counted as living it up. I'll tell you all about it when I get back to Tokyo. That's not why I'm calling, though. I need your advice on something."

"What is it?"

So Minori launched into a lengthy diatribe about how, against her best efforts, she seemed to be getting more and more attracted to Fuwa Sho, and how as much as she didn't want to, she felt like she was betraying Kyoko every time she flushed when he looked at her, or felt that terrible little flip in her belly when he stretched and his shirt rode up a little and she could see the contours of his abs. "And it's not like I want to be his little girlfriend and hold his hand and go out on dates or anything, but  _God_  do I want him to shove me up against a wall," she finished, miserably.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Hello? Kotonami-san?" Had the call been cut off?

Then she heard the laughter. "Kotonami-san, please! This is a serious problem!" she whined.

"Sweetie, you're not unique in this," Kanae reassured her. "Trust me, all of us have thought the same thing about Fuwa Sho. We just love Kyoko too much to do anything about it."

"What, really?"

She could feel the shrug, even though she couldn't see it. "He's an objectively attractive man. Don't worry about it. But if you really want to, hook up with him. I'm sure he knows what he's doing. He's with a different girl every week."

"Kotonami-san!" Minori flushed. She couldn't believe what the other girl was telling her.

"Relax, I'm not telling you to do it now. But maybe at the end of your tour, if you haven't gotten over it. It'll be a nice way to end it. Sex doesn't have to be a big deal, you know, despite what Kyoko might have told you. You don't have to catch feelings from it. Don't think about it too hard, and you'll be fine."

"Kotonami-san! I came to you for advice!"

"And I'm giving it to you. Seriously, your worth as an individual doesn't change if you hook up with Fuwa Sho. Just make sure everything is safe, sane and consensual. And you should probably not tell Kyoko, or she might rip his dick off. Just do what feels right."

Minori huffed. She knew Kanae had had a few boyfriends before, but she hadn't known (although, given her pragmatic personality, she should probably have guessed) that the other girl had such a practical outlook on sex. It was completely opposite from Kyoko's.

"All right, I'll think about it," she said grudgingly to the other girl.

"And, Minori-chan?"

"Yes?"

"If you do hook up with him, you need to tell Chiori and I the details."

"Kotonami-san!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song creds: Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack, although the version that inspired this was Jessie J's rendition on that Chinese singing competition.
> 
> The reason why so many chapters are coming at once is because for a long time I was lazy to post here and just posted on ff.net instead (lol sorry).


	21. Chapter 21

By the time they reached Otaru, the crew was ready for a break. Over a month spent on the road, never spending more than one or two nights in the same place, and the constant performances had taken its toll on the crew. The young adults were more than ready to spend four whole days at the same place, and at this point, were about ready to call any place they spent more than one night home.

Since the performance was on Thursday and they were leaving on Monday morning, they had basically the whole weekend to themselves, and they all knew exactly how they were going to spend it. Hiroichi and Akari, of course, disappeared off to their room the minute their concert on Thursday ended, and it was a safe bet that there wouldn’t be much seen of either of them for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the crew, on the other hand, were planning to explore Otaru, especially the night scene they’d heard so much about. (All right, it wasn’t much compared to Tokyo, but all of them had been reading extensively on Otaru, just looking forward to the small break.)

Since results came out on Friday at noon, at half-past eleven Minori was at the door of the boys’ room, laptop in hand. She’d gotten SOS texts from the other boys all morning, complaining that Seiichi was in an awful mood and neither of them could figure out what to do with him.

Minori figured it was just pre-results jitters, and had brought some snacks with her together with her laptop. Noticing that Seiichi had enjoyed her strawberry chocolate from the flight, she’d stocked up at the supermart down the street, and carried a plastic bag in her other hand containing about five different varieties of strawberry chocolate.

She knocked on the door awkwardly, given that both her hands were full, and when the door opened, she found a very relieved Naoki and Akira in her face.

“Minori-chan! We’re so glad you’re here!” Naoki cried, pulling her into the room. She toed off her shoes and walked further into the room, seeing a glum Seiichi sitting on his bed.

“What do you want?” he barked at her, and she rolled her eyes.

“Come on now, don’t be so mean to everyone,” she said, sitting on the bed and messing up his hair. “Want some chocolate? I brought a lot,” she said, fishing around in the bag. Seiichi wasn’t really in the mood for eating – he was far too nervous – but he did like strawberry chocolate, so he held his hand out grumpily.

She bypassed his hand entirely, popping it directly in his mouth, then leaned in to give him a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t worry so much, sweetie,” she said fondly, stroking his hair. “Whatever happens will happen, and I’ll be here for you no matter what, okay?”

He draped his arm over her shoulders and sighed like the weight of the world was upon him, burying his face in the crook between her neck and shoulder. “I don’t wanna check my results,” he whined like a child.

Minori looked down at Seiichi, surprised, pushing at his shoulders so he pulled back and she could look at his face. She’d never known Seiichi to be like this before. “Come on, I’m nervous about them too, but we have to check them.”

“You don’t understand,” Seiichi said, looking even more despondent than before, and Minori hadn’t even known that was possible. 

“Seiichi…” she said, wanting to probe more, but since it was almost noon already, she set up her laptop and went to the page where the results were coming out. Since last semester, she’d gotten into the habit of checking the portal a little earlier than noon, and refreshing constantly until the results showed up.

She started on her ritual while Seiichi stared at her. “What are you doing?” he asked with horrified fascination.

“Shh, sometimes they may release the results a little earlier than noon,” she defended.

“They never do that; you know they can program the results to come out on the dot, right?” Seiichi asked, amused despite himself.

She whined and lay down, flinging her arms across his outstretched legs. “I just want to get this over with!” she complained.

He absentmindedly patted her hair with one hand while typing on his laptop with the other. “Well, just wait a little longer and – oh.” The clock on the top right corner of his laptop changed to 12. Their results were out.

“What? What is it?” Minori asked, craning her neck to see. Then she realized the cause for his reaction, and scrambled into a sitting position to refresh the page on her own laptop. In the second that it took for the page to reload, she grabbed Seiichi’s hand nervously, and he grasped it right back, grateful for the comfort.

They made a rather adorable sight, and Naoki and Akira had called the other performers to come and witness the pair checking their exam results. They were all clustered in the room, sitting on the other beds and Aiko and Hanae were perched on the desk chair, watching the two of them do deep breathing exercises with their eyes closed. 

“Okay,” Minori finally breathed out, tightening her grip on Seiichi’s hand as she slowly opened her eyes and looked.

“Oh, my God,” she whimpered, her eyes bugging out of her head.

“What? What is it?” Curiosity got the better of him as Seiichi first looked at her computer screen, and then at his. His reaction was very different from hers as his shoulders slumped for a moment, eyes closing in defeat. Then he got up, slammed his computer shut, and left.

There was a beat of silence where everyone sat awkwardly, not sure what to do, before Minori quickly got up, picked up her laptop and followed Seiichi.

“Seiichi, wait!” she called, running after him. He stopped, but didn’t turn around for her.

“Hey,” she said, slipping her hand into his and tugging. “You okay?”

“What the fuck do you think?” he snarled, although it turned into a sob halfway. Horrified, Minori immediately wrapped him up in a hug, stroking his hair as she shushed him.

“Let’s go back to my room, okay? Everyone is in yours, so it’ll be empty.” When he nodded, she led him down the hall back to her room, fishing for her key card with the hand that wasn’t holding onto his.

When she finally got the door open, she led him to her bed and made him sit down, stroking his back and waiting for him to stop crying so she could ask him what happened. She didn’t think his grades could be so bad as to warrant this kind of reaction – she knew he was intelligent and hardworking, so he couldn’t have done badly enough that it would cause problems such as academic counselling or expulsion.

When he started to calm down, she asked softly, “Do you want to talk about it?”

He sighed, and without a word, opened up his laptop, showing her the page with his results on it. She gasped softly when she sees it. Only the GPA comes out at noon; the individual grades only come out later, at 5pm, so she could only see his semester GPA, but it was far from ideal.

She cringed a little; no wonder he had such a bad reaction. “Seiichi… it’s not the end of the world. Look, your cumulative GPA isn’t that bad; you can just pick it up again next semester.”

He flopped down onto the bed and whined something unintelligible into the pillow. She patted him on the back. “Sweetie, I hate to see you like that. Do you still want to go for drinks with the others tonight? I’ll stay in and keep you company if you’re not up to it.”

He turned over and sighed. “No, I need to get wasted.”

She laughed at him. “All right. Do you want to get some lunch? I know you haven’t eaten all day.”

With another overdramatic sigh, he agreed and they got up to get some food. Seiichi didn’t ask, and she didn’t tell him that she’d gotten a near-perfect GPA.

* * *

Sho was really enjoying his short break. He’d gone out alone in the morning, and as he’d planned, almost immediately found himself surrounded by beautiful women. He was walking with his impromptu entourage when he found Seiichi and Minori at a small roadside market, buying street food. They were way too touchy-feely for his taste; Seiichi had his hand on her back while they looked at the offerings the stalls had, and when he said something funny she turned to him and laughed.

He growled a little, under his breath. “Sho-chan? Is everything okay?” one of the fangirls asked.

“Yeah,” he grunted, his mood to hang out with pretty girls completely gone. “I’m going back to the hotel,” he said shortly, leaving them behind while ignoring their plaintive protests. He didn’t think about why he was so upset – he didn’t really want to. It was common, after all, for performers on tour to start dating, since they spent so much time together, and it wasn’t like someone with Fuwa Sho’s cool image could be dating a backup performer. He had to date someone who was as cool as him, after all.

Somehow those thoughts didn’t make him feel better as he stormed back to the hotel to sulk in his room.

“Was that Fuwa-san?” Seiichi asked as he saw him out of his peripheral vision.

Minori looked over as well. “Well, given the size of that gaggle of girls, it must be. Who else could attract a crowd that big?” She turned back to the stall owner and paid for the daifuku, placing one in Seiichi’s hand. Given his affinity for strawberries, she figured this would cheer him up.

He smiled at her as he opened the little paper bag and scrunched it so the daifuku peeped out. “Thanks, these are my favourite,” he mumbled through a bite of the dessert. She smiled back at him as she bit into her own.

They spent an hour at the market, snacking on the various street foods and looking at the knick-knacks that were on sale, before buying yakisoba and heading back to the hotel. Minori had been texting the others, who were justifiably concerned at Seiichi’s abrupt departure. She didn’t want to tell them too much in case she was out of line, but she reassured them that Seiichi was with her, and she was keeping an eye on him.

“Do you want to rejoin the others? I think they went to get food as well,” Minori asked.

He reluctantly agreed, still not sure if he was feeling up to the company, but knowing that they would worry about him until they saw that he was all right. He wasn’t – he was still incredibly troubled, and he hadn’t told Minori the whole story (or any of the story, at all) – but it wasn’t fair to make them worry about something they shouldn’t even know about.

He would just muddle through it alone, as he always did.


	22. Chapter 22

Minori was ready to party. Dressed in a form-fitting burgundy dress that stopped just below her butt, with off-the-shoulder long sleeves, her long hair was loosely pinned back while she finished her makeup. Her winged liner and wine-red lip were perfect, and she spritzed on some setting spray before unclipping her hair to wear it loose around her face, slipping in a pair of dangly gold butterfly earrings before stepping back to give herself an appraisal.

Deciding that what she saw in the mirror passed muster, she put on her strappy heels and grabbed her little sling bag. She squinted down at her shoes thoughtfully, wondering if she would be able to take them off while she was drunk, but then supposed that it would be better if they stayed on so that she wasn’t wandering barefoot through the streets of Otaru.

She looked over at Kumiko, currently leaning over the desk in their hotel room applying a crimson lipstick, dressed in a lacy bustier top and leather pants. When they’d gotten back to the hotel earlier, it had seemed for a moment that they were going to bombard Seiichi with questions about why he’d run off so suddenly, but Minori shook her head, standing slightly behind Seiichi so he couldn’t see, and Kumiko had seen, and immediately hit Akira in the chest so he knew to shut up. 

The two girls had grown close over the past few weeks of rehearsals and touring, and Minori wondered if there was something going on between her and Akira or Naoki. It shouldn’t be that hard to tell, usually, but Naoki and Akira were so inseparable that she wasn’t sure if Kumiko was close to Akira or Naoki. 

Still, she supposed both boys would be a good match for Kumiko.

When the other girl finished with her makeup, she tugged her heeled boots on, picked up her clutch and the two girls left to pick up the boys from their room.

When they got to the room, they found the boys sitting there waiting for them. “Let’s go!” they cheered – they’d been waiting around for the girls to finally finish getting ready, and were more than ready to start their evening. Aiko and Hanae had declined to join them, instead following Sho wherever it was he was going.

They intended to pregame at a bar they’d heard had incredibly cheap sake, before hitting a few clubs. That plan was somewhat derailed, however, when Seiichi knocked back shot after shot of sake when they sat down, causing the others to look at him with concern in between chatting. They’d intended only to pregame here, not get utterly wasted.

“Bro, slow down,” Naoki finally said, reaching over to take the little glass away from Seiichi. “At this rate you won’t be able to go dancing. You had like half the bottle.”

Seiichi growled and snatched it back. “Hey, get me another bottle,” he yelled at a nearby waiter. When the nervous boy scurried off to do his bidding, Seiichi poured the last of the current bottle they’d shared into his cup and downed it in one shot.

“Seiichi, are you sure you want to drink so much?” Minori asked, concerned. “It’s almost time for us to go to the club, and at this rate you might really have a trouble getting in.”

He shrugged. “Go ahead without me, then.” The fact that he was slouched over the table clutching his glass made a convincing case for him. It was probably a little too late to try to get him to stop so he could go to the club at this point anyway.

The others shared a look. None of them knew how to deal with Seiichi like that, since they’d never seen him this way before. Finally, Minori sighed. “You guys go ahead, I’ll stay with him and make sure he’s all right,” she said, a little reluctantly. She really didn’t want to babysit Seiichi all night, but given the state he was in (and she couldn’t honestly say she wouldn’t have the same reaction if her grades had been as bad as his) it didn’t seem like she had a choice.

The others looked hesitant, but when the waiter came back with another bottle of sake, they decided to leave while the going was good, and bid the pair farewell. Minori looked a little wistfully at them as they left, wishing she could join them.

Seiichi immediately grabbed the new bottle, twisting the cap off and pouring it sloppily into his glass. Minori tsked and took the bottle away from him before he made a mess and topped up her own glass as well. “Seiichi, why are you so upset? Really, your grades aren’t that bad, and your cumulative GPA didn’t drop by that much, so you can still graduate with honors next year.”

He sighed and downed the shot of sake, slamming the glass down in front of her for her to refill, which she did so, watching him warily. She was aware that she’d probably be carrying him back to the hotel tonight, but figured that as long as she was around, and stayed moderately sober, he would be fine in the morning other than the crushing hangover he was sure to have.

“I didn’t want to do economics,” he said morosely, staring down at his clear glass. She sipped at her sake, wanting to keep him company but still retain her wits about her, so they didn’t both end up lying on the side of the Otaru canal come morning.

“What did you want to do, then?” she asked, although she was pretty sure he was at that state of inebriation where he would offer that information whether or not she actually encouraged him.

“Literature and history,” he said, peeking up at her through his silver bangs, which had flopped down in front of his eyes. “My dad told me to study economics, because then I could at least make a decent living as a bureaucrat or something. But I always wanted to be a professor and teach,” he confessed, picking up his glass again.

Minori’s heart felt like it was breaking. “Oh, Seiichi,” she said sympathetically, reaching over to hold his hand. She flagged down a waiter and asked him to bring some water for the other boy before turning back to him. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this,” she said, squeezing his hand gently.

“The worst part is before this semester, I thought I could deal with it, you know? Maybe get my bachelor’s and then do a postgrad in what I want after I showed my dad that I could do what he wanted me to; it just wasn’t for me. But now, with these grades…” he trailed off, grabbing his glass of sake and frowning when he realized it was still empty. He pushed it at Minori insistently, who rolled her eyes and took it from him to fill it, but placed the cup of water in front of him.

He pouted as he obediently picked up the water and gulped it down. When he set down the water, she placed his now-full glass of sake in front of him.

“Seiichi, you can still pull up your grades if you want to… or transfer to the humanities department?”

He folded his arms on the table and rested his face on top of them sadly. “I thought I could survive, but last semester I really couldn’t muster up the willpower to study any more. I hate economics, and these grades show it. How am I going to go through another year of this?” he mumbled sadly into the table. “I don’t want to disappoint my dad either, you know? He doesn’t think that literature is a real degree and history is useless to him. I’ll be such a disappointment if I actually do go through with it.”

“Oh, honey…” Minori said, not sure what else to say as she leaned over the table to stroke his hair gently. When he lifted his head to look at her, she raised her glass to his and clinked it with his when he followed suit, then downed her shot together with him.

As she refilled their glasses, Seiichi slid closer to her on the cushioned bench they were seated on. “Do you think I’d have made a good professor?” he asked, and he sounded so sad and forlorn that Minori could do nothing but wrap her arm around him and rest her head on his shoulder. “I think you’d have made an amazing professor,” she said honestly as Seiichi rested his head on top of hers. She thought of the way he lit up whenever they were discussing literature, or history, or politics, and couldn’t help but imagine how much his students would have enjoyed listening to him. 

He picked up his glass and held it to hers until she raised it to clink his, then downed his sake in one gulp, frowning when Minori merely sipped at hers.

“Don’t give me that look, we both know I’m carrying you out of here tonight and that won’t happen if I drink like you are right now,” she admonished.

He chuckled and shrugged. “Ah, you could have a little more,” he encouraged, putting the glass back into her hand and tipping it slightly when she held it to her lips.

He grabbed for the bottle of sake then, and seeing that it was only about a quarter full, raised the bottle to his lips to drink the sake directly.

“Seiichi!” Minori gasped, scandalized. She reached up to take the bottle from him, but he twisted out of her reach and continued gulping down the clear liquid.

“Another!” he cheered as he finished the bottle and slammed it down on the table.

“Seiichi, don’t you think you should stop?” she asked, her concern starting to shift to alarm at this point. Even she was starting to feel drunk, and she hadn’t had nearly as much as he had. She wasn’t comatose yet, but she was pretty sure she would feel it in the morning.

He sulked. “But my grades are a mess and I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life,” he whined.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, but we’re only getting half a bottle,” she cautioned him.

He rolled his eyes, but accepted the compromise. “Fine,” he said sulkily, and placed the order. “And two large glasses of water, please!” Minori called after the waiter.

Seiichi slid off her and onto the table. “So what’s happening with you and Fuwa Sho?” he asked.

In her slightly tipsy state, Minori was caught off guard. “Uh, what?” she said less than intelligently while her mind caught up.

He smirked at her. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed all those longing looks you keep shooting him. What, is the temptation of the great Fuwa Sho too much for you? Are you going to turn into one of his groupies?”

Minori scoffed, although she was panicking a little inside. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying for nonchalance although it came out a little shaky. To distract him from noticing (although she wasn’t sure if he would remember any of this tomorrow, anyway) she picked up her glass and downed it.

He tilted his head to the side, still resting it on the table, so he could squint at her. “You’re lying to me,” he accused, and she rolled her eyes. Somehow drunk Seiichi was more perceptive than sober Seiichi.

“I’m serious,” she said, frowning to convey her seriousness, although since she was drunk, she looked like a child trying to blow saliva bubbles. “I’m not going to become a Fuwa Sho groupie.”

He rolled his eyes as he poured them both more sake. “Maybe, but you wouldn’t be opposed to hooking up with him, would you?” he asked slyly, clinking his glass with hers again and knocking it back.

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think any girl could honestly say they wouldn’t hook up with him if the opportunity arose,” Minori deflected, drinking her own glass. “Well, other than Kyoko-senpai,” she amended, pouring them more sake.

He scoffed. “First of all, she hates him, and second of all, she has Hizuri Kuon in her bed, and he’s even better,” he said, picking up his glass again. When he was done, he drained the last of the sake into his glass and looked into it introspectively.

At least, she thought it was introspection, but then it became clear that he was starting to nod off. Rolling her eyes, she quickly paid the bill and got out of the booth, reaching back in to pull him off the bench and slinging his arm around her shoulder.

“Have a good night!” the waiter said, winking at them salaciously. She rolled her eyes as she adjusted his weight so that she could prop him up despite being shorter than him. Even if they were a couple, he’d brought them enough alcohol to know that Seiichi wouldn’t be hooking up with anyone tonight.

“Come on,” she muttered to him as she half-dragged, half-led him out the door into the cool Hokkaido evening. Hopefully he’d drunk his sorrows away tonight and wouldn’t feel so sad about it subsequently, or she’d have wasted a whole lot of energy dragging him back to the hotel for nothing.


	23. Chapter 23

“Minori-chaaaan,” Seiichi slurred as he leaned hard against her, causing her to stumble.

“Seiichi, you need to be careful! These heels don’t make for great balance,” she chastised, adjusting her grip on his waist as she pulled his arm over her shoulders more securely.

“Minori, I don’t wanna go back to the hotel yet,” Seiichi whined, pouting. “Let’s sit by the river!”

Minori scoffed. “We both know that if you sit down by the river I’m not going to be able to get you up again! We can take a nice slow stroll back to the hotel, how about that?” she offered. She hoped he would go with it – he’d been a relatively pliant drunk so far, and she didn’t know if she could handle him alone if he became belligerent and dug his heels in.

“Okay,” he agreed reluctantly, still sulking a little.

She rolled her eyes. She knew if she put him down on any available surface, he would be immediately unconscious, so she wasn’t sure why he was so insistent on staying out late anyway. It was past midnight, at any rate, and it wasn’t like they’d have wasted the night.

“Mi-no-ri,” Seiichi sang her name, spacing out the syllables as he bounced around a little. In his drunken state, he didn’t have the best coordination, and almost fell when he stumbled away from her.

“Seiichi!” she cried out, grabbing at him, although that soon turned to disgust when he turned his face away from her and threw up in the bushes they were walking past.

“Oh, God…” she said, trying to angle him away from her (especially her cute shoes) while not letting go of him, since she was pretty sure he would fall face first into a puddle of his own vomit.

When he seemed like he was done, she moved the hand that was holding on to his waist to pat him gingerly on the back. “You feeling better?” she asked wryly.

He turned to her, tears in his eyes. “Minori, my throat hurts,” he whined pathetically.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s what tends to happen when you throw up what looks like all the food you’ve eaten in the past few weeks, and over a bottle of sake.”

When he sniffled, she relented. “Fine, let’s go to a convenience store and get you some water and mints.” This really wasn’t the way she’d thought she would spend her weekend at Otaru. Sure, she was walking along the canal, which was beautifully lit up and all, but it was hard to enjoy when she was staggering under almost all of Seiichi’s weight, hunting down a convenience store for him.

“You’re such a good friend, Minori,” Seiichi slurred, leaning close to her and squeezing her affectionately.

“Yeah, yeah, more like a sucker for all your rubbish,” she said, rolling her eyes. She saw a convenience store just a few doors down and quickly shepherded him towards it.

She wondered briefly if she could safely leave him outside the shop or if she should take him with her, but given the way he was leaning on her, she figured if she let him go he would just turn into a puddle on the ground. Sighing, she decided there was nothing to do but bring him with her into the store – she just hoped he didn’t get up to any of his drunken shenanigans in the store.

Adjusting her grip on him, she used her other hand to open the door to the store and pushed him in gently before entering the store herself.

“Ooh, look at all the food!” Seiichi immediately wandered over to the refrigerated section, which was of course stocked to bursting with sandwiches and other snacks. Minori stared after him in vague disbelief, wondering why he was suddenly so stable when he’d barely been able to walk just ten seconds before.

Since he seemed fine, just poring over all the various food options available, Minori left him to his own devices and went to get a bottle of water from the drinks section. Turning around to eye him for a moment, with his head tilted so much that his whole torso had followed suit, she turned back and grabbed a handful of hangover cures too, just in case. Bringing it all to the cashier, she picked up a packet of mints as well for Seiichi.

“Are you ready to go?” she called, turning back to look at him… and stared, bemused, as he almost skipped back to her, his arms filled with food. She saw katsu sandwiches, cup noodles, ingredients for said noodles like eggs and squid, even some microwave meals.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” he replied, beaming at her like a stupid puppy.

“No, go and put back some of that. There’s no way you’re going to eat all of it. We don’t even have a microwave in the hotel!” she scolded.

He sulked, but picked out the offending items and went to put them back while Minori paid. The cashier, bemused at the hilarious sight of a drunk girl trying to take care of an even drunker guy, had to hide her grin as she rang up the items.

(Something worth noting at this point is that the reason why Minori was having so much trouble keeping Seiichi upright was because she herself was dangerously unsteady, wobbling about on her heels, and her Asian flush was bright and high on her cheekbones – and the rest of her face, going down her neck.)

When all the items were packed into bags (yes, Seiichi had picked out so much food it had to be packed into two bags), Minori picked them up and herded him to the exit.

“Here you go,” she said, fishing around in the bag for the bottle of water and packet of mints. Shoving them both at him, she watched him fumble for a moment before she sighed, took the mints back and opened them for him. She then put the rest of the packet back in the plastic bag and opened the bottle of water, handing it back to him.

“I could have done that,” he pouted, though he thankfully took the water and gulped it down.

“Sure,” she said patronizingly, placing her hand on his back and guiding him back to the hotel. Walking along Otaru was pretty nice, especially now that it seemed like Seiichi had started to sober up and was capable of walking by himself, with minimal help from her. Looking around at the romantically lit walkway, she noticed many couples sitting on benches or on the steps by the canal and smiled. As single as she was, it was still nice to see couples out and feel the love in the air, although – she cringed as she saw a couple getting hot and heavy – maybe she didn’t quite need to witness their more amorous displays.

It was while she was looking around that she noticed a distinctive pink-streaked head sitting on the steps by the canal. Hanae was sitting there with Aiko, and it looked like the two of them had talked things out, because they were giving each other long, slow kisses. Minori knew that they’d done this before for the benefit of the guys in the group (although in light of recent events, she figured that was just an excuse) but since there was no audience now, she hoped they’d finally gotten everything sorted out and were going to finally be happy together.

When they finally got back to the hotel, Minori tried to bring Seiichi back to his room, only they realized belatedly that since there were only two key cards Akira and Naoki had taken them both, and they’d forgotten to pass one to him when they split up earlier. She sighed, because Seiichi had moved on to the sleepy phase of recovering from his binge drinking and was now basically comatose on his feet.

“Come on, you can stay in my room for a while,” she said, ushering him back to her room. He collapsed on her bed immediately when she opened the door to let him in (after a fair bit of fumbling for her own key card) and seemed to fall asleep without even taking his shoes off, which was a mortal sin to the Japanese.

“Seiichi, sweetie,” she said, fighting down her impatience as she shook him gently, leaning slightly over him. “You need to take off your shoes, and do you want to get more comfortable first? You can spend the night here, I’ll tell Kumiko to stay with the others tonight.”

Still basically half-asleep, he got up enough for her to help him get somewhat undressed, and when he was barefoot, in his undershirt and boxers, she tucked him into the bed. “All right, you get a good rest, okay? I’m going to get ready for bed,” she said, gathering her pajamas and going into the bathroom to wash up. 

Unfortunately, when she came back out of the shower, all clean and moisturized, it was to find that Seiichi had, unfortunately, thrown up again, all over her bed.

“Oh, God, no,” she groaned in horror and disgust at the sight. She quickly got him out of the bed and sat him in the desk chair so she could get him cleaned up, then stripped the bed quickly and threw the dirty linens into the corner so the vomit wouldn’t soak into the mattress. Grabbing a small towel from the bathroom, she wet it under the sink then went to clean him up as best she could, since she figured if she tried to get him in the shower he might drown.

When he was pretty clean (and shirtless, since he’d messed that too), she tucked him into Kumiko’s bed, this time making sure to place the bin next to it. “Seiichi, if you need to throw up again, use this, okay?” she said, tapping the rim with her knuckles. Then she picked up her key and phone, and went to find somewhere else to sleep.

It had to be said that she was still pretty drunk, which was why she did what she did. If she’d been sober, she would have realized how inappropriate it was, but unfortunately alcohol and lust don’t really make for a good mix. Which was how she ended up at Sho’s door.

Once she knocked, she suddenly realized that this may not be a good idea. He might have brought a girl back to the room, or he might not even be there. And even if he was, who was to say he would let her crash in his room tonight? This was a monumentally bad idea, and she was realizing that when she was sober she would kick herself for it.

Maybe he wouldn’t even come to the door. That would probably be for the best, although she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at the thought.

Then the thought was banished as she heard footsteps coming to the door.

Sho had gotten back from his own night out not long ago, and was getting ready for bed (alone, unfortunately) when he heard the knock on the door. He was rather annoyed – it was the middle of the night, and he was about to go to sleep, dammit! – and tempted to ignore it, but in the end went to see who it was. 

And he was thrilled that he had, because what he found on the other side of the door was… delicious, to say the least. Minori, in her glasses and her indecent-looking pajamas (a skimpy tank top and short shorts that rode low on her hips, revealing some of her belly), clearly still tipsy from the slight flush on her face.

“Yes?” he asked, smirking at her as he leaned against the door.

She blinked up at him for a moment. He was shirtless, and the sight of his bare chest and abs distracted her for a moment. “Um…” she said, trying to gather her thoughts, which was a little harder due to the alcohol still sloshing around in her system. 

He folded his arms across his chest and she flushed as she realized that it made the veins on his forearms stand out. “Take your time,” he said, and from his amused tone, she could tell that he knew she was checking him out.

“Can I stay here tonight?” she blurted out finally. His smirk took on a dangerous quality, and she hastily added, “Just for sleeping! Seiichi threw up in my bed…”

At the mention of the other man (and the fact that he was in Minori’s bed), Sho’s face turned slightly sulky. “Fine,” he said shortly, turning and walking back into the room so that she could follow him.

“Thank you,” she said slightly breathlessly, hurrying in after him. She wasn’t sure why she was breathless or why her heart suddenly wouldn’t stop pounding, but both were happening as she watched his bare back flex as he walked. Should it be illegal for a man to look like that and be shirtless? Well, to be fair, he was in his own room and she’d intruded, but still. The man was dangerous! 

Sho wordlessly pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and got in, leaving Minori floundering. “Um, do you have some spare sheets or something? I’ll just take the pillow and sleep on the floor tonight…” she said, reaching for the other pillow. 

Sho looked up at her and frowned. “Don’t be silly, the bed is big enough for both of us. We can just stay on our sides,” he said, his tone brooking no room for argument.

Minori thought about protesting, but since she hadn’t really wanted to sleep on the floor to begin with, she got into the bed without much ado and turned so that her back faced Sho. She’d thought that being so close to him, in a bed no less, would mean she got barely any sleep that night, if she was able to fall asleep at all, but the alcohol won out and she was out like a light in no time.

Sho, though… that was a different story. While he’d had a few drinks, he was a far more experienced drinker than she was, and the alcohol didn’t affect him to the same extent. This meant that for a long time after Minori’s breathing evened out and her body relaxed into the mattress, he was still staring at the back of her head and the slope of her neck, illuminated slightly by the moonlight streaming in through the window.

 

He wondered where Seiichi was… did the fact that she was here instead of with him mean he’d misunderstood what he’d seen earlier that day? Minori certainly was reacting to him like she was single. Maybe he did have a shot, after all. Closing his eyes (although the image of her in his bed seemed seared into the backs of his eyelids) he allowed himself a little smile.


	24. Chapter 24

Minori stirred gradually, feeling more content than she'd ever felt in her life. It was nice and warm, the pillow was soft, and she was snuggled up with…

Wait, what?

Struggling against the fog in her mind and the temptation to just sink back into sleep, Minori opened her eyes. The shaft of sunlight streaming in through the crack in the blackout curtains caused her to squint and turn her head away, coming face to face with the person she was apparently in bed with, who was none other than Fuwa Sho.

Jesus Christ. This was like a scene out of a bad sitcom.

She tried to move away gingerly, only to find that his arm was locked around her waist… and that somehow, her shirt had ridden up so that they were skin to skin. When she pulled his arm away from her, he just tightened it and pulled her closer. "No… it's too early," he groaned.

"Um…" she squeaked as he rubbed his face into her neck like a cat.

He stiffened all over (and yes, she really meant all over) and then pulled back slightly to look at her.

A second later, they jumped apart like scalded cats, facing each other from opposite sides of the bed. Minori's arms were crossed protectively around her chest – she was suddenly very aware that she wasn't wearing a bra – and she shifted her weight on her feet uncomfortably.

"Uh… thanks for taking me in last night," she said in a rush, desperate to break the awkward silence. Sho didn't react. "Um… Fuwa-san?"

In her sleepy and mildly hungover state, she didn't realise that the way she was crossing her arms over her chest had the opposite effect from what she intended, as it pushed her breasts closer together and upwards, and Sho was too busy staring to really hear what she was saying.

"Fuwa-san?" she asked again, and he finally looked up at her, blinking dazedly. It was like he'd just seen her for the first time. "Are you okay?"

He hesitated. "What?" he finally asked, somewhat unintelligently.

She frowned, slightly concerned. "I was just thanking you for letting me stay here last night."

"Oh, uh… it's no problem."

She rested one knee on the bed as she bent down to look at his face, since he refused to look her in the eye. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

Her new position allowed him an almost unobstructed view down her shirt, and he turned scarlet. "Uh, yeah… I'm fine," he said distractedly. "You sure you don't want to rest some more? You were pretty drunk last night."

She smiled up at him, grateful (although she could never admit it to Kyoko) for his thoughtfulness. "I should probably go and check on the others first, especially Seiichi. He was pretty messed up last night. But thank you for the offer," she said.

If he was being honest, offering the continued use of his bed to her wasn't out of any uncharacteristic benevolence on his part – who wouldn't want a beautiful woman in his bed? Still, she didn't need to know that, and if she thought that he was just being nice – well, he wasn't stupid enough to correct her.

"No problem," he said instead, giving her a small smile.

Minori left the room after gathering her things and went back to her own room. She hoped Seiichi was doing okay – well, as okay as he could be, considering the ridiculous amount of alcohol he'd consumed last night – but steeled herself for the worst as she approached her room.

"Seiichi? Sweetie? You doing okay?" she asked softly as she opened the door. It was cool and dark, because Minori had been sober enough to draw the blackout curtains before she left.

She heard a groan coming from the bathroom, and she peered in. It was dark, but she just about made out the silhouette of Seiichi slumped in front of the toilet bowl, resting his face on the cool porcelain of the seat.

"Oh, God, Seiichi, are you okay?" she asked, walking in and sitting on the edge of the bathtub next to him. She stroked his clammy forehead as he whimpered pathetically.

"Dying," he choked out, his throat probably killing him from all the throwing up.

Minori went over to the sink to get him some mouthwash and a glass of water. Sitting back down on the bathtub edge, she handed him first the capful of mouthwash, and when he spit it out, the water, although given the way his hand trembled as he held it, she practically had to feed it to him.

"This is what you get for drinking so much," she admonished him gently, helping him back to the bed.

He just moaned pitifully, curling back up on the mattress.

She huffed and stroked his clammy forehead. "Try to get some rest," she advised. "I'll bring you some miso soup and rice balls later."

When he whimpered and pressed his face into the pillow in response, she shook her head, a wave of affection washing over her, before getting up to go check on the others. On her way out she snagged her Todai Law sweatshirt, pulling it over her head, since she didn't want to be traipsing all over the hotel in her skimpy pajamas.

She first went to check on Aiko and Hanae, knocking on their door and waiting, hands stuffed in the pockets of the sweatshirt.

When she received no response, she knocked again, a little more insistently. "Aiko? Hanae?" she called. "You guys doing okay?"

A thump, some rustling, and then the sound of footsteps leading up to the door. Minori stepped back a little as Aiko opened the door, her hair mussed and wearing a hotel robe.

"Hey," Minori said, grinning salaciously at Aiko.

Aiko flushed and looked back into the room, then stepped out and closed the door behind her. "Hey, what's up?" she said softly, crossing her arms over her chest self-consciously.

"Just wanted to come check up on you guys, see if you needed anything, since I'm headed to the convenience store," Minori explained. "And I'm glad I did, too! I guess you and Hanae talked everything over?"

Aiko looked at her quizzically. "Talked what over?"

Minori cocked her head, confused. "Didn't you guys… you know?" she asked, her brow furrowed.

Aiko flushed. "Um…"

Now realizing that she'd really stumbled into it, Minori hesitated. "Well, I'm headed to the convenience store, so just let me know if you want anything!" she said, starting to walk away.

She turned back, though, to look at Aiko. "Hey, don't worry about it, okay?" she said in a gentler tone. "I won't tell anyone, and I'm sure it'll work out." With those words of reassurance, she turned back and went back to her room to get her bag so she could go to the convenience store.

* * *

Aiko stepped back into the room and leaned against the door, taking an unsteady breath. The short conversation with Minori had left her shaken, and she wasn't sure what she should do next. Taking cautious, quiet steps back into the room, she saw Hanae still lying in the bed in the exact same position, the comforter flung carelessly over her nude body.

She sat down at the edge of the bed, looking down at the other girl, and bit her lip. Last night had been probably the greatest night of her life, but what if Hanae thought it was a drunken mistake? She had no idea how the other girl felt, and to the best of her knowledge, Hanae was  _not_ bisexual, had never expressed interest in another woman.

What if she lost Hanae entirely over this? More than being the person she had a crush on (read: was in love with), Hanae was her best friend in the world. She blinked back the tears that were welling up in her eyes and got up to take a shower.

She knew what she had to do – play it off like it was just a drunken hookup. Maybe that way they could gloss over it and still be friends. She wouldn't have everything she wanted, but it would do. The status quo was fine.

* * *

Hanae stretched and blinked slowly, feeling better than she should have after a night of drinking. She smiled as she rubbed her face into the pillow, feeling the contentment wash over her. She didn't feel Aiko in the bed next to her, but she heard the shower running and figured that's where her friend – girlfriend? – was.

Last night had been nothing short of amazing for her. They hadn't exactly talked much, caught up in a drunken haze, but she was sure that everything would work out. After all, she loved Aiko, and she was sure that the other girl felt the same way. She blushed as she looked at the rumpled sheets. They way they'd touched each other last night… she bit her lip at the memory. She was sure that wasn't how random hookups felt.

Just then, the sound of the shower cut off and Hanae looked up eagerly, knowing Aiko would come out soon. She wondered what she should say to the other girl to convey her optimism at where their relationship was going. At this point she was fairly certain that she and Aiko would be together forever, as puerile as that sounded. They'd been best friends first and clearly knew each other well, and last night had proven that they were compatible physically as well.

When Aiko emerged from the shower, rubbing at her head with a towel, Hanae smiled at the other girl brightly. "Good morning," she chirped.

Aiko looked up, surprised. "Um…" she hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. She'd been banking on Hanae still being asleep so she had time to work out her next plan of action.

Hanae forged on. "So, about last night…"

"I'm sorry about last night," Aiko interrupted. She had to get it all out at once, or it would be impossible for her to ever say it. She gulped. "It was an accident… I mean, we both had a bit too much to drink, right?"

"Y-yeah…" Hanae said softly, frowning. "A mistake…" she murmured, even as the words stuck in her craw. Last night had been the happiest she'd been, possibly in her entire life, and the love of her life was calling it a mistake. She looked down at her hands in her lap as she blinked back tears, forcing herself to be strong.

"I mean, it's crazy what alcohol does to us, huh," she said, looking back up with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, hoping it was enough to convince Aiko that she was on the same page as her. After all, if Aiko didn't want to take the next step, Hanae could lose her entirely by telling her how she really felt.

Aiko smiled back at her with a tinge of sadness. "I know, right?" she said with a forced laugh. She went back to the bed. "I'm so glad we can put this behind us," she said, leaning in to hug Hanae. With her face out of sight, she closed her eyes to memorize the feeling of Hanae's body against hers.

Hanae squeezed the other girl as tightly as possible. Though neither of them realized it, both made the same silent promise to each other: to suffer their unrequited love in silence so that they could keep the friendship that was simultaneously the best and most torturous thing that had ever happened to either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for the really long hiatus - my computer broke down and then my summer internships got really intense. Internships are over and I'm on holiday in Bali now, just finishing up this chapter while chilling in the hotel. School is about to start in a few weeks and I'll do my best to keep updating, but they may be sporadic.
> 
> As always, I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it! Please do let me know what you thought about it so far, and what you hope to see happen later on in the story! I have a rough outline of how I want the story to flow, but I haven't really worked out the finer details yet so I'd love to hear what you guys think. :)


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